All Hail the King
by Growling
Summary: Kyuubi was never kind and, when given the opportunity and a push, its spite flared. Naruto wanted more power? Then more power Naruto would get! Poor Naruto should have known better than to trust a bitter, angry demon with legendary power. Bleachxover
1. Meet the King, Boy

The world froze, incomprehensible to the human mind.

Sasuke's hand, his arm, had rammed through Naruto's chest, his lung; the Uchiha's arm still sparked with frozen lightning. Naruto felt no pain. He barely comprehended the idea that his best friend, his brother in all but blood, was trying to kill him. Even the pain that brought was numbed by the stillness of the world.

"Meatbag." The world echoed in Naruto's head, but did not filter into the frozen air.

"Kyuubi." Naruto answered back, monotonic in his incomprehension. "Am I going to die?"

The demon didn't answer immediately. The situation was almost surreal to Naruto. "No." Kyuubi finally answered.

"Why?"

Kyuubi laughed without humor, "Why, you ask! Meatbag! I am the all powerful Kyuubi no Kitsune! I'll make sure my worthless human shell won't die."

"Then give me more power."

Anger flooded over the unfeeling blond and the Kyuubi's response to his order was soft and strained, "What?"

"I said gimme more power!"

The screech of nails slashing across unbreakable barriers echoed inside Naruto, "No."

"I own you! You have no choice!"

"I have no choice!" Kyuubi roared and thrashed and snarled. "Fine! Have your power! But you will pay for it!"

&&&

The red chakra surrounding the feral Naruto flared intensely. The rasengan broke apart with lack of control; the duo was thrown back harshly. Naruto recovered first and charged at his disoriented and weakened opponent.

A fist was slammed unmercifully into the Uchiha's stomach and he was forced back. Naruto grabbed at his shirt in an attempt to stop the momentum. The shirt ripped and Sasuke slammed into a wall. The blond howled in rage and followed after the dazed Uchiha.

Naruto kicked; the Uchiha weakly blocked with his forearm eliciting two nasty, audible snaps from the breaking bones and newly useless arm. Sasuke doubled over to clutch his arm. The Uchiha could do nothing to stop the knee that slammed into his chest. Ribs snapped, he couldn't breathe; he fell to his knees, gasping, silently begging for the mercy he wouldn't have given.

Naruto roared triumph.

"You're weak, _brother_." Sasuke grit his teeth. Naruto's voice was so rough and garbled it could hardly be called human anymore. "Even with all the strength _Orochimaru_ could give you, you couldn't beat me. You're _nothing_. I bet with this power, _I _could beat Orochimaru, ne?" Sasuke struggled to remain conscious. "You know what I heard, don't you, _brother_? Itachi is _stronger_ than the snake freak. But you know what, Sasuke?"

Sasuke glared at Naruto. It was beginning to rain. The blond grabbed the Uchiha's chin roughly. "Say, 'What, Naruto-sama.' Say it, Sasuke." Sasuke's good arm ended in a white-knuckled fist. "Say it, _brother_."

"You're not you," Sasuke wheezed.

Naruto snarled, "I don't care! Now say it!"

"What, Naruto-sama?" He complied, glaring hatefully.

Naruto smirked darkly, "The man you want to kill, _Itachi_, Orochimaru, the sannin, the Hokage, Kakashi-sensei; they all grew strong in Konoha, the place you want to defect from, you idiot!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in surpise, "You're… still trying… to… convince me to… go back… to… Konoha?" The Uchiha was in terrible pain, more so as he talked.

The blond sneered, "What else would I be doing? Trying to kill you? Humiliate you?" He scoffed. "I made a promise, I intend to keep it. Besides, you don't wanna die, do you? No, no one does." The adrenaline rush was going away, and he was becoming aware of the sheer burning pain that the increasingly powerful red chakra was wreaking on his body. "Orochimaru was planning to kill you, take your body, your precious sharingan, and you wouldn't have had any revenge anyway."

He was incredibly tired, he realized, but the Kyuubi's evil chakra kept growing, even though the fight was over. Naruto blinked, his thoughts were getting foggy. "Wait, what the hell!"

"This is the price, meatbag! Say goodbye!" Kyuubi laughed spitefully.

"Wait! Wha— Ahhhhhhhh!" His body was being pulled apart; the blue sky wasn't there anymore, Sasuke wasn't kneeling before him, panting and gasping, the ground wasn't beneath his feet. He was rushing somewhere, fast, but there was no wind. And it _hurt_. The pain was absolute and terrible.

And then, any sensation available to him stopped. It was abrupt, but welcome, in a way.

"Uzumaki Naruto." A voice rumbled and echoed through Naruto's current void. "You are trespassing."

"What, but, but! I don't know how I got here! It's the Kyuubi! The fox did it!" Naruto shouted, afraid.

"That does not change the fact that you are trespassing, Uzumaki Naruto."

"But it's not my fault!"

"Perhaps, but you will face the consequences." The voice was resolute.

"But I didn't do anything!" Naruto whined.

"You have a choice, Uzumaki Naruto. Kyuubi, an embodiment of my key, has taken you here, a place where no mortal should ever be."

"Hey, hey, if I shouldn't be here, I'll go, right? You can send me back and I'll pretend this never happened, ne?" The blond laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"It does not work that way, boy."

"But—."

"Now, your choice is to live in eternal torment in my belly, or—."

"What! No way!"

"Or serve me for all eternity."

"And who would I be serving?" Naruto asked petulantly, crossing his arms.

"The King of Shinigami." The blonde's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" He received no answer.

"Choose, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uh, uh." Naruto scratched his facial blemishes anxiously. "Uh, the serving one, I think."

"Then swear fealty to me, Uzumaki Naruto."

"What's that?"

"Swear your undying loyalty to me. Swear you will obey me, and only me. I am your one and only King, your master. Now, swear you are mine."

"Uh… I…"

"Do it, or face an eternity of hell."

"I… I swear it."

"Good. Disobey me, your oath, and you will be erased."

Sensation returned as abruptly as it had originally fled. With it, Naruto realized he was falling, had been falling for a long time if the speed he was traveling at was anything to go by. With sight, came the appearance of a landing zone, aka, the ground.

Naruto screamed and collided; there was no give. "Oww, couldn't've been gentler with the landing?" The ground, which had so happily greeted him, was actually smooth, light marble belonging to a large, ornate throne room. Marble pillars reached up to a ceiling that was mostly a skylight to a bright blue sky. The walls were some kind of a highly polished wood lined with torches that released steady light.

"Welcome, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto's gaze snapped up; there, sitting on an elegant marble throne, was a man who was not a man. He was taller than the tallest man by feet, broad shouldered with a slim waist. The creature had unruly pale white hair with two black horns curving out from the messy locks. The hair contrasted dark gray skin and eyes darker than an abyss. "I am the Shinigami King." He was swathed in robes of the purest white. "This is my home and realm. Serve me, well."

A force compelled Naruto to kneel and bow, "Yes, Majesty."

The King grinned, revealing a mouth full of white, sharp teeth. "Excellent. Now, turn and meet your new comrades." Naruto did so and was faced with hard-faced men and women standing in perfect, militaristic lines. Naruto didn't bother to try and estimate the number; he just knew there were a lot of them. Each of them wore the same uniform, a white kendogi under a black cloak, though Naruto noticed personalized details such as cut off sleeves, or colored sashes. But the one thing Naruto noticed above all else, they all radiated power, to the smallest woman to the largest man.

Naruto gulped, they were all staring at him.

"Who will sponsor him?"

"I will, my lord!" There was no hesitation from the man who called out.

"Then step forward, Namikaze Minato. I have a special mission for you and him. Dismissed."

"Yes, my lord!" echoed powerfully throughout the room. In an orderly manner, the warriors exited. Naruto wondered if he should leave, too, but the gaze of the King ordered him to stay.

An equally blond haired, blue eyed man stepped up beside Naruto. Naruto glanced at him and promptly gasped as he recognized the man. It was the Yondaime Hokage! The young blond stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at his sponsor. Minato stood at attention while Naruto goggled at him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you are not dead." King Shinigami stated bluntly. The young blond immediately recovered from his daze. Minato jerked slightly in surprise as well.

"But I thought—."

"You can therefore not stay here in a realm for the dead. Your mission is to go to the human world and—."

"I get to go home?" Naruto exclaimed, a burning hope igniting in his chest.

"Do not interrupt me!" King Shinigami roared. Naruto quailed instantly.

"Sorry."

"You will go to the human world and train. Do not draw attention from the soul reapers." Naruto opened his mouth, but a glare promptly glued it shut. "Your sponsor will explain. Namikaze, your job is to train and educate Uzumaki. Submerge yourself in the human world, jobs, school, clubs, etcetera. Grab a gigai and go. If you do well, I may permit visits between this realm and the human realm."

"But, why would I—."

"Come, Naruto. We have our orders."

"But—."

"I'll explain everything later."

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted, but followed anyway, "Fine."

&&&

AN: I wasn't originally going to post this until forever in the future. But, I got over eager and I seriously want people to read it, I really do. I think it's awesome, the story I mean.

However, I made the compromise that to post this, I would need to post the **need for a beta**. I was reading some of the future typed out chapters (the ones I haven't read several times already) and realized that I made some errors.

**The betas job**: Obviously, look for and correct errors. Give me feedback: what works, what doesn't make sense, what needs to be changed, and so on. Give me ideas, you know, what you think might happen, what you would want to happen. I may not use them, but they could spark another idea, or what not. And finally, and the most important job (in my case) nag me to keep writing. And I mean nag, nag, nag. I may not like it, but I, and any readers, will need it.

Finally, more about this current story: I have typed out eight chapters, am working on typing out chapter nine. I have plenty written down on paper still, too. So, that should let you know I'm more serious about this story then my others. Lucky for you guys, I backed up this story on a USB drive before my computer finally decided to stop working for me. So this work is still alive, even if my other stories aren't.

I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this new story. It may not be completely written, but trust me, the end is clear in my mind. The only obstacle is getting there.


	2. Welcome to the Good Life

Disclaimer (cuz I forgot to do it last time): I don't own Naruto or Bleach, but I did just get an awesome Naruto keychain. I own that, ne?

&&&

Naruto scratched his head, staring at the eager man across from him with wide eyes. The boy rubbed his chin, fiddled with his sleeve, and pulled at his collar. His lower lip was tucked between white teeth.

"So," Naruto began, eyebrows furrowing. "This is…" He waved his hands slowly, a thought dawning on him that made him sit up straighter and tuck a fist softly into his hand. The man, Minato, in response, leaned forward awaited Naruto's next words quietly. And then Naruto slumped, brows knitting together once more and sighed. "I'm still confused."

Minato leaned back and blew an exasperated breath, "Didn't they teach you anything?" When Naruto didn't respond, he heaved a heavy sigh, "All right, I'll explain this to you again, in a simpler form, in the simplest form I can put it." The man shook his head and put a hand to his chin, thinking. He grumbled and ran a hand through his blond hair before he came to a conclusion, "I'm gonna have to tutor you 'til you're up to speed, aren't I?"

He was rewarded with a blank look from Naruto.

The man ran a finger over a recently wrinkled brow and sighed again, "All right, then, how to put it, how to put it… Naruto, the world you were born in, the world of ninja, is the realm of the King Shinigami, the grey skinned man, remember?" Naruto nodded. "Good.

"Now, the realm we're in now is referred to as the human world, Earth. Now, Earth is connected to mainly four other realms. The first is the realm of the soul reapers, King Shinigami's underlings, and the good souls they lead there. It is known as heaven. Understand that?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"What don't you understand?" Minato sighed.

"What are soul reapers?"

"Human souls with the aptitude to use reiatsu to fight bad spirits and guide good spirits to heaven." At Naruto's blank look, he rephrased, "They are people who use energy like chakra to fight evil and keep balance and peace."

"Ooooh, that makes more sense. Why didn't you say it like that first?" The man pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Never mind that. The second realm connected to Earth is Hell. This is where the bad spirits go when they die. That's simple enough. The third realm is Hueco Mundo, the home of hollows, the enemy of the soul reapers."

"Hollows?" Naruto prompted.

"Animal like creatures who were once human souls, they have holes in their chest and white masks. They feed on human souls, soul reapers, hell, they'll even eat other hollows. Hollows are sad creatures because often they weren't originally evil. Some times, they were left on Earth too long as spirits and became hollows, or they were eaten by hollows and forced to become hollows. And other times, they were evil people in life."

"Oh, okay," Naruto replied solemnly.

"The fourth realm connected to Earth is the King Shinigami's realm, the ninja world. Unlike the other realms, the ninja world cannot be accessed nearly as easily. The only ways to access this realm is by a specially made key, or by being specifically entwined with the King Shinigami, like all his soldiers."

"Then how'd I—."

"First, Naruto, you were already in the King Shinigami's realm."

"But—."

"Secondly, you would have eventually been recruited by the King when you died because of your previous entwinement with his power."

"Huh?"

"When I sealed Kyuubi into you, I put you on the roster to be one of King Shinigami's soldiers or to be forever tormented in his belly. Not that I knew that at the time, but you know."

Naruto scratched his head, brow furrowed, "So, why'd he come at me? He said I was alive?"

Minato nodded, "You are alive. He recruited you because he caught you trying to move from the ninja realm to Earth." Naruto opened his mouth, but the man held up a halting hand. "Now, before you ask, I'll explain.

"Kyuubi made a key," Minato told him darkly. "The demon took it into itself so the King could not recover it. That's why the King was so willing to ensure Kyuubi was sealed properly in you."

"Why didn't Kyuubi use the key to escape to, uh, somewhere?"

The blond man smirked, "Kyuubi soon found out that its power overwhelmed the key and made the key unusable. The demon practically became the key for how much he could use it and never part with it."

"So that's why the furball forced so much of his power on me! To get the power away from the key!"

Minato laughed and ruffled the boy's unruly locks, "You do have hope after all!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"Everything and more, brat. Now, even though you are not dead, you are a soldier of King Shinigami. This is absolute." Naruto nodded. "Your mission, our mission, is to blend in here on Earth. As your sponsor, I am to train and guide you to be a strong warrior under the King's rule. This is also absolute."

Naruto nodded, "What will you be training me in?"

"Well, first I have to know the extent of your abilities now. Once I know that, I'll teach you how to stop using chakra and use just reiatsu, the spiritual side of chakra, to do all your ninja techniques. Reiatsu is stronger and more abundant, but much harder to fine tune, but once you do, it'll be worth it.

"After that, I'll teach you how to wield a sword and your body as a weapon along with any ninja techniques I feel you should know. This is going to take years, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah. So when do we get started?" The boy asked eagerly.

"Well, first we have to integrate ourselves into Earth society. The paperwork for that should all be handled by now and some other stuff that I don't know about. We'll get to it when we get there. But, before we start, there's something you need to know."

"What?"

"Naruto," Minato started, bracing himself for an angry explosion of epic proportions, "I'm your father."

"I know." At Minato's incredulous stare, Naruto elaborated, "Even I could see the resemblance. I'm not dumb." He crossed his arms and pouted petulantly.

Minato chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair again, "Could've fooled me."

"Hmph."

&&&

"I signed you up for karate." Minato said, stretching with his son.

"Nn," Naruto responded, bleary eyed and routine in his movements.

"I'll take you to the place after school. Then you can find your own way there without me." The blond man continued, finishing up stretching and leading Naruto outside for hard core endurance exercises.

"Uh huh," the boy responded groggily.

"Good."

An hour later, after the heavy morning work out and a shower, the almost conversation finally registered in Naruto's thought process, "Wait! What?"

Minato laughed as he pulled on a shoe, "You need more experience fighting others in hand to hand combat. You need to get a feel for how different people fight. Besides, you need to get out more instead of just hanging out here after school."

"But, but—."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I hate you," Naruto muttered childishly.

&&&

Naruto sighed and glared at the door of the Fuurin Community Centre in which his father had left with a grin and a laugh. Stupid man and his stupid whims. The blond boy crossed his arms and scowled. What was wrong staying home and training by his self in the backyard? Nothing, nothing at all.

A large, broad-shouldered man with sleek muscles and short dark hair clapped his hands in a call for attention, "Listen up. We have a new member in our class today. His father insisted he be put in the advanced class, but he's shown no proof he belongs here.

"Arisawa! Let's see how you've progressed. Uzumaki, don't disappoint dear old dad, now."

Naruto scoffed and continued scowling, "Maybe he'd teach me himself if I did."

"I was told he did." Naruto didn't respond as he stalked to the directed point.

A girl in the uniform of the practicing martial arts stepped forward to meet him. She had dark, short hair and a hard look on her face. Naruto pouted at her insolently.

Arisawa bowed, so he bowed back hesitantly. She fell into a stance, so he got into his. He'd originally been a brawler, no formal training and rushing in with energy wasting, wrong punches and kicks and whatnots. Minato spent long hours of the day fixing bad habits brought about by neglect and self-teaching.

And then Arisawa lunged at him. Naruto stumbled back, surprised at her brashness. He dodged the first punch and stopped his backward momentum with a foot. An elbow shot at his face; he grabbed it and promptly let go as a foot hooked behind his knee and jerked his leg forward. The boy twisted so his outstretched hands met the floor instead of his back. His foot shot out and nailed Arisawa in the chest; she stumbled back with a pained gasp and waited for him to regain his stance.

"Not bad, shorty," she taunted with a grin.

"Hey! Who you calling short!"

"You." Naruto charged and lost any kind of form training had permitted him. The girl quickly took advantage of that fact as the blond soon found himself on the floor with her foot on his chest.

"Well," the sensei began strictly, "That was informative. Good job, Arisawa. Uzumaki, you exceeded expectation somewhat. Though, that's not saying much considering I didn't expect too much from you.

"All right, let's practice punches and balance. Get in line and…"

&&&

So this is what a formal education in hand-to-hand combat felt like. The exercises were repetitive but exhausting. But, Naruto decided, maybe his old man wasn't going crazy after all. Meh, he probably was, he decided.

"Hey, shorty." Arisawa grinned down at his sitting form.

"I'm not short," Naruto muttered, crossing his arms and looking away. Arisawa sat across from.

"Good match. We should do it again some time."

"Yeah, just you wait for me to kick your ass!"

"Ha! As if!" They had a staring match, coal black met sky blue in a contest of wills. Both were silent until Arisawa grinned. "Arisawa Tatsuki."

Naruto grinned back, "Uzumaki Naruto. Look forward to losing next time!"

Tatsuki smirked, "Don't get your hopes up, shorty."

&&&

Naruto yawned and stretched methodically, warming up for the expected fight. He grinned.

"Hey Naruto."

The blond teen smirked, "Yeah?"

"Where do you live?" Tatsuki asked casually, also stretching for the predestined match.

"What? Why?" Naruto asked suspiciously, squinting at the dark-haired female.

Tatsuki shrugged, "Well I thought if you lived close by I could introduce you to some of my friends." She finished her final stretch. "So, where do you live?"

"Oh, Minato— uh, my dad snagged a place near the Karakura Shopping Center that's got a backyard large enough for training. It's cool."

"Cool." She clapped her hands together in excitement, "Yosh! Let's fight!"

&&&

"How the hell did you convince me to do this?" Naruto murmured, pouting.

Tatsuki grinned. She was dressed casually in cargo shorts and a green T-shirt, dark hair casually mussed. "You lost the bet, obviously."

"You cheated!" The blond teen accused heatedly.

Tatsuki scoffed, "I didn't cheat, and even if I did, it wouldn't change the fact that I won."

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away, "Feh." For all his efforts, he received a laugh.

"Eh, stop complaining. I'm sure you'll like her."

"Whatever," he muttered, then sighed, relaxing his stance, "I thought we were going to see that Ichigo guy or something."

"I decided against it," she told him softly.

"What? Is he being moody?" Tatsuki glared. "What? The way you talk about him makes him sound like a stick up the ass emo kid."

Tatsuki stopped, still glaring at the blond, "He lost his mother and it cut him deep."

Naruto scoffed and frowned, "As if that's any excuse." He turned away, then turned back, grinning widely with his eyes closed shut, "Aren't we going somewhere."

Stiffly, the dark-haired girl nodded and started forward again. She didn't like that look on his face; it was so fake and forced and clearly _practiced_. But, she couldn't tell what he was thinking, and, she thought, that was probably its purpose.

In silence, the duo arrived at their destination. Tatsuki was quick to ring the doorbell, even as she glanced at Naruto's still grinning face. Perhaps, she thought, she didn't know him as well as she assumed she did.

An orange-haired girl in a pink tank and a white skirt opened the door with a smile. She hugged Tatsuki, and too the blonde's surprised, hugged Naruto as well. He blushed as she greeted them with words. "Hi Tatsuki! Naruto, I've heard so much about you." Naruto gave a sideway's glance at his dark-haired friend, wondering just what the girl had told this Inoue Orihime. Tatsuki grinned sheepishly at him.

The cheery girl stepped aside and invited them inside with a wave of her hand, still smiling happily. The two followed Orihime to a small table that already had snacks set upon it. Tatsuki sat and motioned Naruto to follow. He did so, hesitantly.

"I'll go make some tea," Orihime announced and skipped out of the room.

"Wow, and you're friends with _her_?" Naruto asked, a hint of disbelief in his tone.

Tatsuki crossed her arms and glared, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously, feeling the female anger burning in the gaze that beheld him, "Heh, heh. Well, you know, you're all tomboyish and mean and stuff and she's all nice and happy and girly and… uh… Why are you getting up?"

"Is that so?" She asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Uh, uh. W-wait!" Tatsuki's knuckles connected with Naruto's skull before he could do anything to stop her. He clutched his newly bruised head as Tatsuki, smirking smugly, sat down in her previous spot. Naruto moaned. "Owww."

Orihime re-entered the room to the scene of a righteous Tatsuki and a hunched over Naruto rubbing his head, muttering nonsense. She blinked. "I wonder what happened." She gasped. "Maybe he knocked his head on the table, or he was possessed and hit himself, or a mean, ugly ogre came in and knocked him over the head with a club, but disappeared cause he broke some honor rule or—."

"Don't just stand there, Orihime, the tea'll get cold," Tatsuki prompted casually.

"Heh, heh. Silly me." She set the tray down and sat. Naruto looked up at her with watery forlorn baby blue eyes and an out thrust lower lip. An urge welled up in Orihime's chest and forced itself out, "Cuuuteee!" She rushed to him and grabbed his cheeks. Naruto cried in boyish outrage as the girl hugged his face to her chest as if he was some fluffy stuffed animal.

Tatsuki burst out laughing and a lone exposed blue eye glared balefully as the dark-haired girl clutched her stomach and wiped tears from her eyes. Suddenly, Orihime released him, blushing and backing away, "I'm so sorry!"

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away, face aflame with embarrassment as well. "I'm not cute," he muttered. "I'm manly and ruggedly handsome." _That _renewed Tatsuki's loud laughter.

&&&

Tatsuki and Naruto were sitting against the wall facing Naruto's grassy backyard, cooling down from an incredibly fast paced spar. The blond teen gulped down some bottled water and offered Tatsuki the bottle. She made a face and he grinned, grabbed the untouched bottle she knew he had, and handed it to her. The dark-haired girl smirked and moved her wrist in a whipping motion, accompanying the movement with the appropriate sound.

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away.

"Decided what school you're going to?" Naruto inquired casually after a peaceful moment of silence.

"Yeah. Karakura High School, if I get in. You?" Tatsuki replied, spreading her toes in the cool grass.

"The same."

"You'll be sad if I end up going to another school!" Tatsuki remarked with a teasing grin.

Naruto smirked, "If you go to another school, I'll simply follow."

Grimacing, Tatsuki whacked Naruto in the head with the half empty bottle, "I can see you doing that too, just to be spiteful."

The blond scoffed, "Spiteful? That sounds like something someone mean would do. We're talking about me, not you!"

"Hey!" And they both laughed. "But you wouldn't seriously follow me to another school, right?"

Naruto tried to smirk mysteriously, but failed, not that he knew, "Wouldn't you like to know!"

Tatsuki dismissed that comment, "Maybe we'll end up in the same class, you, me, and Orihime."

"Heh, that'd be awesome!"

&&&

"Naruto!" Tatsuki exclaimed, sounding almost desperate. She was pale, and sweating, her face drawn with exhaustion. Naruto was instantly concerned. He grabbed her firmly by shoulders and led her out of the classroom to a more secluded area of the school campus.

"What's wrong?"

"There's these people, these spirits, everywhere! And they're following me and they won't leave me alone and they won't stop talking and—."

"Tatsuki, calm down," Naruto ordered, finally taking note of the many spirits hovering around the girl, watching the confrontation. He hadn't really noticed them. It was just so easy to tune them out and ignore them that his mind just skipped over the spirits' presences. That ability made it easier to fit in, as was his job, his mission.

He shook his mind of such thoughts as his friend exploded angrily, "Calm down! How can I calm down when I can't even think straight! They're always talking and yelling in my ear, it's just—."

Naruto put his hand over her mouth, halting her words, "They're not talking now, are they?" Tatsuki's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Okay, when I let go, take a few deep breaths. Okay?" She nodded as best she could.

He let go and the dark-haired girl took several deep breaths. The panic and desperation quickly faded from her expression. Finally, when much of the tension had left her, she looked at Naruto, "You can see them."

The blond nodded seriously, "Yeah. I've been able to see them since I came to Karakura Town."

"Oh." Tatsuki remained quiet for a moment, biting her lip thoughtfully. "How come you never told me?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, "I've kinda gotten used to seeing them, but ignoring them, that I often forget they're there. Heh heh."

Tatsuki grinned up at him fondly, "Idiot."

The blond flashed a hurt look at her before grinning again, "You came to this idiot in your moment of panic! What's that say about you?"

Tatsuki scoffed, "I wasn't panicked."

"Uh huh." Naruto bit this thumb thoughtfully. "But this means something. We should see Minato about it."

"See him about what?" Naruto gave her a pointed look and she blushed, tugging at her school skirt, "Yeah, right. But, seriously, why would we need to your dad about this?"

Naruto scratched the marks on his face, "He's more of an expert on spirits and stuff than I am so he might be able to explain why you can suddenly see them. Yeah, that sounds about right…"

"Sounds helpful." She agreed.

The blond grinned and threw an arm around Tatsuki's shoulders, "Come, my dear, Orihime's probably worried sick and far into her improbable delusions of what could have happened."

"You're right, let's go. But before that," Tatsuki socked him in the stomach. "Don't ever do that again."

"Right," Naruto wheezed, "No touchy Tatsuki."

&&&

AN: Not the most actiony chapter, but I like it. Trust me, I've read it enough times. It seems a little fast, I know, but I really didn't want to spend much time on Naruto's training and downtime, but also wanted to introduce a couple of relationships he's forged, namely Tatsuki and Orihime.

Hope you liked it. Though, I was kind of disappointed by my lack of reviews, but to say anything more would be hypocritical. Still, by all means, review, do it several times if you can, no not really. Anyway, if you really like the story, tell your friends and spread the word. I really like my story and I want others to see why.


	3. Did I Forget to Tell You That?

AN: Long time in coming for something I'd already written, I suppose. Still, it was half laziness and have being disheartened by the fact that this story isn't as popular as I'd expect. I haven't exactly written much new on it anyway. I got a DS for my b-day I've been, surprisingly (I didn't think it would be that addicting) preoccupied with it.

Well, anyway, here's chapter three.

&&&

"Hmm," Minato sipped his tea thoughtfully, looking over the two teens kneeling in front of him expectantly. His son Naruto had brought his female friend (she was not his _girlfriend_ of course, Minato smirked at that thought) Tatsuki with an interesting problem, no, it was more a puzzle as there was nothing truly problematic about it.

"Well?" Naruto prompted impatiently.

"This is probably your fault, Naruto," the man mused thoughtfully. "I never thought your lack of control would be an issue, but I was wrong."

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away, pouting, "I didn't ask whose fault it was," he muttered, "I asked how it happened."

Minato smirked, "Isn't that one and the same?" Naruto scowled and Minato sighed, taking another sip of his tea. "You are always releasing reiatsu, but it's little more than a slight leak. However, I've noticed that when you fight, it pours off you; not all at once or all that much, but it is certainly an influx from your normal, uncontrolled output."

"Again with all the big words," Naruto mumbled, glancing at Tatsuki, who was raptly listening to his father's explanation. "Hmph."

"If you had no change in your normal leakage, I doubt the stray reiatsu would have any outward effect on anyone even if you spent years of close contact. But with the way it reacts when you fight, I can easily see someone like Tatsuki here gaining spiritual awareness by taking in your reiatsu and causing her body to produce its own reiratsu considering you are constantly fighting with her." Minato paused thoughtfully.

"Sir?"

"Hmm?"

"What's reiatsu?"

Minato blinked and laughed, "Oh, that's right, you don't know. Heh," Tatsuki could definitely see the family resemblance beyond simple physical appearance now. "Reiatsu is the energy of your spirit or soul. It usually doesn't show up in the living, but there are exceptions."

"Oh." Tatsuki was thoughtfully quiet. "And I have this energy now?"

"Yup. Thanks to Naruto." Naruto grinned sheepishly when the dark-haired girl glanced at him.

"Is there any way to get rid of it?" Tatsuki inquired solemnly.

"Not unless you have a death wish," Minato replied, borderline cheerfully.

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

Minato tapped his chin, appraising the hard faced girl, "Well, I suppose I could teach you the basics of controlling your reiatsu; manipulating it to work inside your body or out, with your body. I should show you how to raise it to its peak or use it as a weapon or defense. But I can only teach you basic and broad techniques anyone can do. Without any specialty, that's the most I can do."

"Specialty?"

The man grimaced and scratched his head, "Without telling you anything I shouldn't," Tatsuki frowned at the blatantly obvious secretive phrase, "I'll have to go with a metaphor or a simile or whatever. Stupid education." Minato cleared his throat. "Heh, well, a ninja has many skills, right? Stealth, kunai handling, shuriken handling, swordsmanship, tai-jutsu, gen-jutsu, nin-jutsu, speed, and so on and so forth. Each ninja is trained in the basics of each skill. Once the basics are learned, a ninja then begins specializing in one or two aspects of being ninja. There's gen-jutsu specialist and tai-jutsu masters and stealth obsessed shadows." Minato ran a hand through his messy blond hair.

"The point is their specialty is far above the basics and usually leaning towards a natural talent. Without knowing what your specialty power is, or natural talent, I can't teach you to further your skills in that area, and will have to stick with the basics which will hopefully show you what you'll specialize in." The man frowned and rubbed his chin, glancing over the still confused face of the girl and Naruto's dumb look, "Now that I think about it, that wasn't a very good comparison, was it?"

"Not at all," Naruto replied blankly.

"Well—." Minato's face slackened and his eyes blanked. He sat frozen like that for a long, worrisome moment before the man shook his self from his daze and grinned knowingly at Naruto, "Naruto, you have the… the bosses permission to explain to Tatsuki about spirits, hollows, soul reapers and the world's pertaining to them."

"Why do I have to do it?" Naruto whined.

"Because I don't want to. Now shoo, Daddy needs some sake." Naruto scowled at his father, but left as directed, Tatsuki in tow.

&&&

"Woah… Seriously? How do you know all this?" Tatsuki breathed, amazed.

"Well," Naruto began. "Minato told me."

"And how'd he know?"

He opened his mouth to reply and stopped when he realized he didn't have the answer, "Uh…"

"You don't know?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I know, I know!"

"Uh huh." The dark-haired teen was skeptical.

Naruto snapped, "Got it. I didn't meet my father until I was twelve, but before that I'd always been told my parents were dead, among other things. Maybe he knows this stuff because he escaped and came to take care of me, but not before learning about the afterlife. Yeah, that sounds plausible!"

"You know," Tatsuki began, grinning fondly. "It's not a very convincing story when you're clearly making this up as you go."

"Really?"

Tatsuki laughed, "Knucklehead." At that, Naruto got this nostalgic look on his face and sighed wistfully. "Naruto?"

"What?" Naruto shook his head and returned to the present.

"You kinda zoned out on me there. What were you thinking about?"

"Oh, uh, I was thinking about before I moved here."

"Miss your friends?" She asked softly.

"Yeah, I left without notice, without even getting a chance to say goodbye." The blond sighed. "I wonder how everyone took it."

"I'm sure you'll be able to go back some day," Tatsuki assured, patting Naruto's shoulder gently.

"Wouldn't that be great." Naruto replied, but his tone spoke of a confident doubt that that would never happen. Finally, after a moment of bitter thoughts, he grinned that fake, face stretching grin that Tatsuki had grown to know and hate. "This is boring, let's fight."

Tatsuki nodded and faked her smile, "Sure, let's do it!"

&&&

"How awesome is this!" Naruto exclaimed, looking down at his feet which stood upon nothing but air with an incredibly high drop. "And I thought walking on water was sweet, but _air_? Heh!"

Tatsuki apparently didn't agree. She clutched Naruto's arm like a lifeline, eyes squeezed shut, pale, and shaking like a leaf. "I hate you."

"Huh? I didn't know you were afraid of heights, Tatsuki."

"I'm not," she replied through gritted teeth. "But there's a difference between looking down with something solid and firm beneath your feet and standing 100 feet above the ground on _nothing_."

"Hey, you think we're that high up?" Naruto exclaimed, squinting down and trying to estimate the approximate distance between him and the ground. Suddenly, he felt a little queasy. "Heh heh, we are pretty high up, aren't we?" If Tatsuki could pry her eyes open, she'd be glaring balefully at Naruto.

A howl and a crash drew the duo's attention. They turned and ran, awkwardly and fearfully, towards the origin of the sounds. A hollow was lumbering through the streets chasing the spirit of a little girl.

Tatsuki gasped, "We gotta help her!" Naruto nodded, but before he could do anything the hollow decided to ignore the girl. He bit his lip, glancing at the relieved expression on Tatsuki's face. "What should we do about that demon thing?"

"It's a hollow," Naruto explained, glancing worriedly at the beast. "We should follow it to make sure it doesn't harm anyone else and hope a soul reaper shows up. I know there's one in town. If I have too, I'll try and stop it, but I've never fought a hollow before." His companion nodded.

"Oh god, it's attacking Ichigo's house! We have to help!"

Naruto nodded, "Stay here."

"What? No way!"

"Tatsuki, I don't even know how well I'll fare against that thing, and I've trained to fight with the intent to kill since I was a little kid. I don't want you getting hurt, so stay here!"

Tatsuki bit her lip, but nodded. He set his face and pulled a hidden kunai from the sleeve of his jacket. He released the energy that kept him a float as a girl's scream pierced the night. The hollow had taken a girl captive in its large meaty paws.

"Raaarrrgggh!" Naruto cried, using his reiatsu to gain momentum passed that which gravity allowed. He slammed his foot into the white-masked face of the monster with all the power he could muster.

The creature howled and promptly slammed an angry backhand into the blond as he jumped up to attack again. Naruto rammed into a building. He vaguely heard Tatsuki yell his name.

He blinked back stars, unsure of how much time had lapsed. "Take me instead! Have my soul, but leave my family alone!" That sounded like Ichigo. Naruto rubbed his head, what was Ichigo doing here? "You ugly bastard!"

Naruto stood, wobbled, and returned to the battle with determination. The hollow had a cut on the teeth of its mask now, but the blond wasn't thinking straight enough to wonder why. He charged.

The hollow's fist came at him again. He jumped, landed on the outstretched arm, and used it as a springboard to propel himself towards the creatures face. With deadly proficiency, he slammed his kunai into the hollow' neck. The thing screeched with rage and grabbed Naruto's airborne form. It wasted no time to hurl the teen away.

Naruto's back bent around a pole with a disgusting noise. He hit the ground with a thud and a groan. Next to him was a surprised woman in white robes. "Yo," he said weakly, "You must be the soul reaper." And then consciousness left him.

&&&

Naruto was slow to wake, slow to take notice of where he was (somehow, he'd gotten to his room), and slow to take in the fact he wasn't alone. Blearily, Naruto recognized the form of Minato hunched over his desk, writing something.

"Hey, what're you doing in my room?" Naruto asked, trying to sound angry, but only succeeded at sounding incredibly tired.

Minato glanced over at his son as the teen began trying to sit up, "Ah, so you're finally awake."

"Huh? How long have I been out?" The blond teen asked, brow scrunching.

"Oh, not too long," Minato replied, placing his pen down and turning so he could appraise his son, "Three days. But considering you had one hell of a head injury and a broken back, I can see why it may have taken some time for the Kyuubi to heal you right up."

Naruto blinked, "Three…days? Three days! Holy crap! What about—."

"I've gotten your homework from school, told your girlfriend, I mean, Tatsuki you were fine, and have made up a plausible excuse other than an injury you can't heal from in three days to keep you out of school until you were ready to go back."

"Ugh," the teen fell back, exhausted.

"So, I hear you tangled with a hollow." Minato commented lightly.

"Yeah," Naruto muttered, eyebrows coming together in confusion, "I shoved a kunai in its throat but it didn't die."

"What? I didn't tell you how to kill a hollow?" The man asked, surprised at his mistake.

Naruto shrugged, "No and I just assumed you kill them like normal, but I guess not."

"Hmm. You have to cut through their masks; that's how you kill them." Minato tapped his chin, "Did I teach you how to coat your weapons in reiatsu?" Naruto shook his head. "Okay then, when you get better, I'll teach you how then take you hollow hunting." The man stood. "I'll bring you some food."

&&&

"Naruto!" Said blond winced as his two female friends grabbed him in a fierce hug. He may have been up and walking around but his back was actually still quite tender. However, he grinned, hiding the pain so he wouldn't worry them, and threw his arms around both Tatsuki and Orihime.

"Settle down ladies, there's enough of me to go around!" That caused Tatsuki to jump back, blushing. She crossed her arms and looked away. Orihime was slower to release him. The orange-haired girl smiled.

"Tatsuki took me to see you when you were still sleeping. I was really worried when she told me. Who knows what could have happened? You could've been kidnapped and run over by a vicious unicorn or…"

A grin split his face, "I could have, but I'm fine now. Nothing can get Uzumaki Naruto down! Heh!"

"Ha!" Tatsuki exclaimed, but she was hiding a smile with her hand.

"Hey! Isn't that—." Naruto started, pointing at a new student with dark hair talking to Ichigo.

"Yeah," Tatsuki murmured quietly. "I'll—."

"I saw that, you fiendish man! How dare you touch my Orihime like that!" Chizuru, the class lesbian slash comedic relief, screeched, grabbing hold of Orihime inappropriately. "She is too precious for—." She was cut off by Tatsuki predictably slamming her foot in the loud girl's face.

Naruto whistled, like he did every time, as he appraised the damage, "Ouch."

The commotion drew the attention from the rest of the class and suddenly Naruto found his arm being yanked by the petite soul reaper in the guise of a student, "What the hell!" He yelped. "Lemme go!" She did, but not before finding a nice secluded place to have her way with him. That meaning, she knocked him off his feet and loomed threateningly over him.

"Who are you?"

"What are you—."

She grabbed his collar and shook him, her right foot on his chest. Pain shot up his spine and he winced, "Who are you?"

"Ow, son of a bitch!" Naruto whined, swatting at her hand. She dragged him to his feet.

"Bakudo Number 1: Sai!" Naruto's arms seized up and locked behind his back. He wobbled on his feet, but even though she was exhausted and panting, the petite soul reaper grabbed his shirt again.

"What the hell?" Naruto exclaimed, pulling at his arms. There was no give.

"Who are you?" The girl demanded again.

"What the hell are you doing, Rukia!"

The soul reaper and Naruto turned to the male calling out to her. It was Ichigo and he didn't look happy. Naruto used the distraction to concentrate reiatsu into his arms and pulled. It took effort, but…

"He was there the other night! He fought the hollow!" She waved a hand at a sweating, tense Naruto.

"Yeah? So? What's wrong with that?" The orange-haired teen asked dismissively, his tone actually in Naruto's favor. Then again, they were sort-of friends (mostly through Tatsuki) so there existed some loyalty between them.

"He knew what I was!" Ichigo scratched his head, not understanding the importance of that. "Normal humans don't fight hollows and they don't know about soul reapers!" Ha! There! Naruto broke free! Take that little girl!

The tall male scratched his chin and thought about that, "Well, I guess that's true…" He glanced at the blond, "But its just Naruto."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Just Naruto?" The blond exclaimed, crossing his arms and glaring at the taller male. Rukia gasped.

"How'd you break free?"

Naruto grinned widely, "Well, with a touch of effort and an abundance of awesome, anything's possible for Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Eh?" Ichigo's pinky dug for earwax, "Since when were you any kind of awesome?"

"Damnit, Kurosaki!" The teen rolled the found earwax in his fingers, then flicked it. "I don't know how Tatsuki can be friends with you." Ichigo shrugged.

"How do you know about soul reapers?" Rukia demanded, stomping her foot, angry at being ignored.

"Oh, right! You're still here." Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "You're so small I kinda forgot you were there! Heh heh!" For all his efforts he was kicked in the stomach. "Why do so many girls feel the need to hit me?" The blond cried loudly.

The petite soul reaper was audibly grinding her teeth as she repeated the question. "Oh, that. Yeah, Mina— my dad told me all about it. But you're the first one I've met." Naruto invaded her personal bubble and studied her closely, "You know, I always imagined soul reapers would be taller and less like, well, you." He got hit again, but at least Ichigo laughed.

Ichigo slapped him on the back, "You're not so bad after all, Uzumaki!" Naruto's face twisted in agony as the muscles around his spine burned.

"Yeah, thanks," the blond replied in a strangled voice. Ichigo didn't notice. Dense jerk.

"Come on, let's get to class."

"But—."

&&&

"What was that about?" Tatsuki asked, stretching.

"What was what about?" Naruto replied, matching her pace and actions. They were readying for their daily spar.

"You know, when Kuchiki pulled you out of class with Ichigo following a little bit afterwards." The dark-haired girl prompted casually.

"Oh, that. Well, the pipsqueak wanted to know how I knew she was a soul reaper and decided forceful interrogation would be best."

"Really?" They finished stretching.

"Yup. It was hot…" The dark-haired girl began glaring. "Well, not really. She looked too much like a little girl to look any kind of dominatrix sexy. Heh heh." Naruto shook his head, letting the perverse thoughts fall away. "Hey let's use reiatsu to fight. These normal spars are getting boring!"

Tatsuki nodded hesitantly, unfurling her arms from their angry position across her chest, "All right."

"Sweet. Let's fight!"

They paused to ready themselves; Tatsuki coated her body in reiatsu as she had found worked best for her and Naruto pumped the energy into his limbs (and also coating his back for comfort). Naruto charged first, throwing a punch. It was blocked and the wrist grabbed, he kicked out with his foot.

Tatsuki jumped, still holding the boy's wrist which she pulled harshly. The blond stumbled forward as she landed, skittering out of his awkward path and slamming a foot into his back. He cried out and slammed into the floor. Quickly, the boy rolled out of the way of a relentless foot and flipped back onto his feet.

"Okay, you're faster than I remember," Naruto stated, cautiously circling his opponent.

Tatsuki smirked and flared her reiatsu. The blond grinned and flexed; his arms and legs sparkled with his own energy. They blurred forward simultaneously and met with a clash of flesh and power. A punch was blocked, a kicked dodged, a palm connected but did no damage against a reiatsu protected flank; the battle was faster and heavier than any previous spar between them.

Then Tatsuki jumped back, liquid, dark blue reiatsu coalescing along her body. She didn't notice; Naruto did, but was having too much fun to think to say anything about it. Instead, he charged.

He shot out his left fist, blocked, and snaked his right under her preoccupied arms. His knuckles connected, his face, grinning victoriously, fell as he felt his knuckles shatter. Naruto yelled and backed off, looking up at Tatsuki. Her reiatsu wasn't flaring around her like a wild aura anymore, but was now represented by a vivid dark blue outfit.

"Woah," he muttered, amazed. The shirt was long sleeved and slightly loose; the collar of it hugged her neck protectively, as if it could stop a blade from cutting at the tender flesh. It was tied down at her waist by a black sash. The pants were looser than the shirt and stopped at her ankle where deceptively soft slippers kept her feet protected but flexible. Darker blue armor hugged her abdomen and rose over her left breast to cover her heart and formed into a small shoulder pad. On her forearms were guards that surely hid the currently extended silver, gleaming knives. "Damn, you look awesome!" Tatsuki glanced down at herself.

"What the hell!"

Naruto grinned at her, "I think we need to talk to Minato again. Heh heh."

&&&

"Well, would you look at that!" Minato commented the moment he saw Tatsuki.

"So, you know what this is?" Tatsuki asked eagerly.

"This is that specialization of power I told you about. If I had any guess, I'd say your specialization is close combat."

"What? Look at what it did to me!" The blond teen held out bruised and swollen knuckles. "That's gotta be defense."

"Think, Naruto." Minato ordered sternly. "The outfit is centered around defense, close combat defense. Look at the blades attached, you can't attack long range with those. Up close and personal; and no matter how good with a blade you might be, it helps when you have more than just your skills to back you up."

"Uh, right."

"Do you at least understand, Tatsuki?" She nodded. Minato rubbed his hands together eagerly, "Good. Now, we need to begin your training. I would laugh evilly here and mention torture by 'accident' but that seems cliché so I won't."

&&&

AN: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I love them so much, but I seem to have only gotten two.


	4. Brooding and the All Mighty Power

AN: Okay, to start off with, I'm pretty sure I have forgotten to write out a disclaimer so:

Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or Bleach and never will, nor do I seek to gain custody of either anime, though if I could speak Japanese, I'm sure I'd have words with their creators.

All right, with that out of the way, I want to thank those who decided to click that review button and, well, review! It made me really quite happy. I'd give you a cookie, but, well, they belong to the dark side, and I already ate them, so there you go.

Anyway, this chapter's got some action in it. Bleach fans should easily recognise it from the anime. I haven't taken much liberties with it. I hope you enjoy it and feel kind and unlazy enough to review.

&&&

Naruto was bored. Tatsuki was still at school doing her karate club or whatever she did after school. He yawned, lounging on the couch with the television on, training being next to useless without Tatsuki. The blond scratched his fit abdomen and shifted.

"Damnit, nothing's on," he whined to no one. A hollow's howl answered his pitiful pouting. Another closer hollow screeched into the air. "Hey, what annoying creatures." The howl echoed again, begging for the blonde's attention. "All right, all right, I'll come kill you, so shut up."

Minato popped his head through the doorway of his room, "They're not calling you to kill them."

"Meh, who cares. I'm gonna go kick some ass."

"Well, don't sound too excited, now. And, don't hurt yourself and what not."

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto yelled from his room where he was stocking up on weapons.

"Hurry up! Don't want anyone to get hurt!"

"If you're so worried, why don't you get off your ass and do something yourself!" The teen yelled, twisting and turning trying to find a spot for one last knife.

"I'm busy!"

Naruto huffed, throwing down the knife, "Doing what!"

"Masturbating to pictures of women who look like your mom!" Minato shouted back, completely serious.

"…I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that!"

"Good luck with that!" Naruto grimaced.

A howl and Naruto bolted out the window. The first hollow was on him almost immediately. "Well you ugly bastards don't waste any time, do ya!" Naruto cut down the beast with a flip over the creatures head and a reiatsu coated knife cutting through its mask. "Hah!"

He landed with a tail whipping into his stomach. Naruto coughed spittle and snarled, flicking a kunai into its forehead. The thing disintegrated as the blond dodged the meaty fist of another hollow. Naruto charged, shifting out of the path of a second fist and jumping to slam his blade into this hollows ugly mug.

"Take that you bastards!" And that's when he noticed several hollows were gathering around him. "Damnit! What the hell's going on!" A hollow charged and he took it down. "You know what! I don't care!" Naruto kicked away one hollow to slice into the face of another one. It died and the other beast howled. "I'll kill you anyway!" The howl died quickly with Naruto's interference. In short work, the blond had destroyed all who dared attack him. "Hah! That's what you get, you stupid bastards!"

A collective howl drew his attention to the sky where an inordinate amount of hollows gathered. "Well, crap."

"Better go find out what's going on."

"Gack! What the hell, Minato! Why can't you do that?" Naruto whined.

"Well, if we can't use you young people for stuff like this, then what are we supposed to use you for?"

Naruto stared at the man blankly, "That's some really twisted logic."

"Eh? You think?"

"Yup."

"Hmm, well, you got somewhere to be. Go, go." Naruto grumbled, but shot off towards the source of the disturbance.

He arrived in a park swarming with hollows and quickly attacked, vaguely picking up the sound of a partly-emo conversation going on nearby. The blond fought his way towards the voices. Easily, Naruto broke into the ring surrounding Ichigo and another dark-haired teen wearing glasses that Naruto thought might be in his class.

"Man, how the hell do you make the hollows wait for you to finish your conversation?" He looked around, "I never figured they were considerate." A kunai was slammed into the mask of an attacking hollow. "Guess they only pause for the important characters."

Ichigo scratched his head, "Naruto?" That's when the surrounding hollows choose to attack. Ichigo cut them down with his oversized sword, the dark-haired teen destroyed them with a barrage of blue spirit arrows, and Naruto slew them with a medley of thrown weapons and up close and personal attacks.

Then the job was taken from them by the arrival of a blond man in black and green with a green and white striped bucket hat and his underlings. "Hey, Ichigo, we'll take care of the rest of these ones. Why don't you take care of that." The blond man pointed to the sky where black cracks widened as it was pulled apart to reveal an enormous hollow.

"What the hell?"

"Holy crap."

"You might want to hurry before it's too late." The man continued solemnly. Ichigo and his companion nodded and rushed off. The blond man turned to Naruto, "Aren't you going with them?"

"Me? No way! I'm not gonna get myself killed trying to fight that huge ass thing. I'll leave that to the hot-headed retards."

"Right…" Naruto grinned. Then Ichigo charged at the hollow, Rukia calling after him, and the blond man stopping her after disappearing from his side. Naruto ran to catch up, watching the man bind Rukia in place.

"Hey, man, uncool, leaving me behind like that!" The man waved a fan in front of his face.

"Did I?"

"Meh. Who are you anyway, old man?"

The fan covered the man's mouth, "Old man? How cruel."

"Hey Rukia, whose this guy?"

Rukia answered without shifting her gaze from Ichigo, "Urahara Kisuke." Naruto followed her gaze and burst out laughing. The dark haired teen had somehow tied Ichigo's sword to his head; he was kneeling with his arm outstretched. It made for a hilarious sight.

The short soul reaper glared at him, "Don't laugh! This is serious!"

Naruto smirked at her, "You gotta admit that's funny though." Rukia clearly didn't agree. "Meh."

"Hey, Urahara, w—."

Suddenly, Naruto noticed the building of spiritual pressure and jerked his gaze towards the huge hollows face. "What the?"

"Cero. A doom blast."

Naruto was serious again, "How do we stop it?"

Kisuke glanced at his fellow blond, "You've already committed yourself out of this fight. Let Ichigo take care of it." Naruto's jaw clenched and he tensed to join. A hand forced him to his knees, but no one was touching him.

"_This needs to play out like this." _A voice whispered across his conscious, wrapping his body in a steadfast grip.

"My lord?" Naruto gasped out, drawing a sharp gaze from the blond man standing next to him. Naruto was oblivious to it.

"_Do not interfere, Uzumaki Naruto."_

The teen nodded, "As you command."

Kisuke tensed, waiting for Naruto to make his move. Naruto stood, a solemn expression gracing his face, and said nothing.

The man's attention was quickly caught when the energy the hollow had been charging was released at Ichigo. The orange-haired teen struggled strongly against the energy, his spiritual pressure skyrocketing as he fought to overcome the blast. Ichigo's valiant effort was successful as he cut through the cero and through the hollow. It retreated.

Ichigo stood and grinned, "I win."

Naruto turned away, "I'm gonna go check on Tatsuki."

"Oh, she's fine," Kisuke responded lightly. The blond teen glanced sharply at the man. The fan came into play again. "She's not to far way, actually. She's with Orihime and Sado." Naruto narrowed his eyes, but nodded before jumping off after where he sensed her presence.

She wasn't far away and he arrived quickly enough. He landed beside her vivid blue form, eliciting a gasp and a swing of her bladed arm at him. The blond stumbled back, "Hey, hey! What's that about?"

"Naruto!" Tatsuki exclaimed, smiling with relief before she rapidly switched her expression, "What have I told you about doing that?"

"Uh, not to?" Naruto replied sheepishly.

"And what did you just do?" The dark-haired girl asked dangerously.

"Er, that?"

"Naruto!" The blond teen was glomped by an over eager Orihime. "You're all right! I was so worried when I saw you down there!"

"Heh, heh," the blond could only scratch the back of his neck. "Well, you know me, can't stay out of trouble."

"That's because most of the 'trouble' you get into is pre-planned and instigated by you," Tatsuki deadpanned.

"Is it? I never noticed."

"I'm armed you know," she threatened dangerously.

Naruto glanced at her unsheathed blades then down at himself, "Oh, would you look at that, so am I!"

"Naruto," Tatsuki muttered darkly.

"All right, all right! I'm done!"

"Hmph."

"So," Naruto began, grinning, "Tell me about your adventurous day."

Tatsuki growled, crossing her arms and looking away. Orihime smiled, "I got to protect Tatsuki!"

"Oh really? You'll have to tell me all about it. Over dinner, perhaps?" Orihime nodded eagerly, locking arms with Tatsuki and grabbing Naruto. "You wanna come, Sado? On me?"

The large teen didn't answer immediately, but eventually nodded. Naruto grinned.

"Let's get ramen!"

"Ramen?" Orihime asked.

Naruto nodded, "Yup. The food of the gods!"

"We are not getting ramen," Tatsuki determined succinctly. "I'll choose."

"But, Tatsuki—." Tatsuki glared. "Yes, ma'am."

&&&

"So, tell me about your ordeal?" Naruto asked after settling down in a booth in the restaurant of Tatsuki's choice.

The dark-haired girl huffed, but began, "We were cleaning up the broken glass from the windows that somehow got broken, when Orihime started on about some show she wanted to watch."

"I just wanted to get them away because I noticed the hollow. There was no show." Orihime cut in informatively.

"Yeah. She wanted us to go with her, but I was still in my workout clothes so I went to go change."

"What about the hollow?" Tatsuki muttered something quietly, blushing lightly. "What was that?"

"I said, I didn't notice the hollow!"

"Really, and Orihime did?"

"Hmph."

Naruto laughed, "Don't worry, we all make mistakes." The dark-haired girl glowered at him. "So, you went to go change?"

"That's when the, uh, hollow, started talking to me," Orihime began instead. "It said it didn't like violence, so it used humans to do it instead. The thing shot something from its head at Chizuru that allowed it to control her actions. Then a bunch of students started coming after me. That's when Tatsuki came back and started punching and kicking and kung fuing them back. She said she could see the hollow and then yelled that it had picked the wrong person to mess with."

"Did you now?" The blond smirked down at his best friend. "What happened after that?"

"The thing shot its seed things at me before I could materialize my power. I couldn't control my actions, but I was aware the whole time. And then Orihime was awesome! She said that the hollow had picked the wrong person to hurt and that she'd make sure I never— uh, and she unlocked some kind of power! She blocked the hollows seed attack thing, then healed me, and then killed the hollow!"

Orihime was blushing.

"And what about you, Sado?"

The large teen said nothing for a moment, then, "I was protecting Ichigo's sister from a hollow when I unlocked my power."

"Ha hah! A man's answer! Short and straight to the point!" Tatsuki slammed her fist into his skull.

"Don't be chauvinistic!"

"Me? Cha-cha-cha- that! No way!"

"Uh huh."

"Really!"

"You don't even know what it means," Tatsuki deadpanned.

"So?" The two bickered back and forth the rest of the meal.

&&&

Kuchiki Rukia sat on the branch of a tree in the schoolyard, brooding. Naruto knew that look by heart, having long since gotten used to seeing it on his team mate and pseudo brother. Perhaps she was brooding about something more mundane than Sasuke did, but the look on her face brought up memories that made his chest ache.

So, Naruto did the only thing he could do in such a situation, completely ignoring the logical option of turning away and forgetting about the short soul reaper to jump silently up into the tree, hooking his legs around a branch above the girl and swinging down.

"Something bothering you?"

"Aaaahhhhh!" She grabbed her chest, turning wide eyes onto his up-side-down grinning face. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Did I scare you, little soul reaper?" Naruto asked cheekily.

"No."

"Uh huh. So what's bothering you?"

"Nothing," she replied coldly.

Naruto dropped fluidly to perch beside the small girl, "I'm not stupid."

"Really?" Rukia scoffed.

"Really. Now, you could say I'm almost intimately familiar with the look on your face, but now that I've said it, it sounds wrong."

Rukia covered her mouth and coughed back a giggle. The blond grinned triumphantly. "What do you want?"

"I've already said. I want to know what's bothering you."

The girl sighed and looked away. A breeze meandered by, slipping invisible fingers through clothes and hair. In Naruto's eyes, it made Rukia seem surreal and unfathomably sad. Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Sasuke would have never allowed this, he reminded him self, she wasn't Sasuke. And, he thoughtfully continued with a nostalgic smile, no matter how much she hits Ichigo, she's not Sakura.

"If I tell you, you'll tell Ichigo," Rukia sighed.

"I see. So you're brooding over asking him out?" The girl was stuck on the terminology before she blushed and shook her head rapidly.

"No! That's not it!"

"More serious then?" Naruto inquired sadly. Gack, what the hell was wrong with him? He comforts some girl he hardly knows because he's suddenly reminded of his one-time team mates-almost-family; what's wrong with that picture?

"Yeah." Naruto clicked his tongue bitterly. "What?"

The blond sighed as well, turning broody, "I was kinda hoping you were brooding about something small and normal."

Rukia puffed, offended, "What? Why?"

"Cause that would mean this life here could stay the same; simple, without trouble. Where I could stay unhassled with my friends, my precious people, without worrying about some bad guy trying to rip it all away. Without…" He trailed off wistfully and stayed silent for a few peaceful moments. "They're coming for you, aren't they?"

"Yeah. How'd you—."

Naruto grinned one of his patented fake grins, "Didn't I just tell you I wasn't stupid?"

"Then why do you act stupid?" Rukia asked curiously, all the while uneasiness rolled in her stomach.

"Sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and isn't bliss nice, even if it's faked?"

The short soul reaper whistled, "That's deep."

"You think so? I was reading some philosophy stuff on the internet the other day. What do you think?"

Rukia palmed her forehead, "Just when I think you're not an idiot, you go and say something like that."

Naruto just grinned. "Heh."

The girl grinned back at him for a moment before the seriousness of her situation caught back up to her, "Yeah, they're coming. They might come after you, too."

"Me? Why me?" Naruto blinked, confused as he pointed a finger at his chest.

"Because, I told them about how you knew about stuff you shouldn't. They might think you're some traitor from a long time ago and come capture you or something."

"Hmm."

"Do you understand why you can't tell Ichigo?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. But, you know what?"

"What?"

"Hey, Rukia, there you are. We were wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us." One of the girls from their class asked, surrounded by her friends who included Orihime and Tatsuki.

Naruto patted Rukia on the back and grinned, "Well, you're one tough cookie to cheer up, that's what!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rukia exclaimed, an angry flush spreading across her cheeks. The blond laughed, and jumped down from the branch. "Hey!"

"Hey, Naruto, wanna join us?" Tatsuki invited casually.

"Wait!" One of the girl's whispered rather loudly, "You shouldn't just invite people to eat with us without asking!" Tatsuki shrugged and looked at Naruto, waiting for his answer.

"Well," Naruto began, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Eating lunch surrounded by pretty girls has certainly been a dream of mine…"

Many of the girl's in the group blushed and giggled; the blond grinned dashingly (in his opinion) at them. "Naruto…" Tatsuki muttered threateningly having been one of the girls with a red blush across their face.

"Sure. Yeah, I'll sit with you guys. And we can talk about guys and how cute they are and they're musclely arms!" Naruto gushed, then grinned, unbuttoning his shirt and peeling it off to reveal the results of constant work outs. He struck a pose. "Say, like me!"

He was in the middle of shifting into a pose to emphasize his biceps when Tatsuki felt the need to ram her foot into his exposed abdomen. Naruto rolled and skidded away comically. When he finally came to a stop, he lifted watering cerulean eyes to glare cutely at his attacker, "That was mean, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki scoffed, "Now, I know that didn't hurt that much."

"Feh," The blond muttered, easily picking himself up off the ground. "This is what I get for gracing the female population with my gorgeous self! Bah!" He strode languidly back towards the girls, many of which were staring at him like the horny teenagers they were. Naruto smirked at them as he leant down to pick up his previously discarded shirt.

Brushing the dirt off both the shirt and his tan skin, Naruto shirked the shirt back on and bowed farewell, "Good bye, beautiful ladies, you will miss me and my gorgeous body."

"Naruto," Tatsuki muttered softly.

"Yes, Tatsuki. Do you want to confess your undying love to me?"

"Stop watching so much television."

Naruto pouted, "And I thought I was doing a good job."

"Just go."

"So mean."

"Naruto," the dark-haired fighter murmured dangerously.

"Right, going."

&&&

"You, halt."

"Me?" Naruto asked dumbly, a grocery bag thrown over his shoulder. He turned to regard a tall, regal soul reaper with dark hair in some kind of weird device that separated it somewhat and a white cloak thrown over the typical soul reaper attire. "What do you want from me?"

"Are you Uzumaki Naruto?" The man asked coldly. Naruto shivered.

"Yeah. Who are you and what do you want?"

"I am Kuchiki Byakuya and you will come with me." Byakuya stated with as much heat as an ice cube.

"And why would I do that?" Naruto questioned seriously, dropping his groceries in exchange for two ready kunai.

"You will come willingly, or I will make you come by force."

"Clichéd much?" That elicited no response. "Che, fine. Take me by force if you can, Kuchiki Byakuya!"

Faster than Naruto could comprehend, he was bound and defenseless. "Very well. Abarai, take him."

"Damn," Naruto muttered as a red-haired male soul reaper with black tattoos and goggles appeared before him.

"Yes, Captain."

"Good. We still have one more target. Let's go."

&&&

"Naruto? What's going on?" Rukia asked, the moment she saw the blond. She was in a dress with a pack, clearly planning on walking right into the enemies arms.

Naruto grinned, "Well, you know, I just thought I'd hang out with my hands stuck behind my back with these two lovely ladies, er," Abarai was glaring at him. "muscly, unbelievably masculine men with their long and pretty hair."

"Naruto," Rukia sighed.

"Heh, you were right. They did come after me," the blond finally admitted.

"Naruto, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into this," the small, powerless soul reaper apologized mournfully.

"Meh, it's probably my fault, somewhere along the line."

"Really, how precious, but honestly, this is giving me a tooth ache." Abarai muttered, crossing his arms.

"Geez, how long have you been waiting to use that line? You know what, you deserve to pay for that." Naruto grinned, closing his eyes and focusing on a power he hadn't even tried to access in years. Kyuubi's evil chakra began to leak from the blonde's body.

The three soul reaper's startled as he easily broke free of his invisible constraints. "What the hell?"

"Ha hah! Feel this power? This is the power of pay back! This is— Ack!" The hilt of a sword slammed into his temple and immediately knocked him unconscious.

The last thing he heard, "He is definitely a threat. I will suggest we keep him under heavy security."

And the last thing he thought before black consumed him was: Well, damn.

&&&

AN: Since it seemed to work last time: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! I do love them ever so much.


	5. Say Goodbye to the Good Life

AN: All right, here's the next chapter. Just so you know, I had a little trouble starting it. I wrote like three beginnings before I got one that satisfied me. So there you go. I think its good though.

Disclaimer: I own only the ideas that originally came from my mind, nothing else.

Enjoy.

&&&

Escape. Escape. Escape.

He was captured. Caught. Tied to a chair. Stuck. It was dark, or eyes were closed, it could be either. Rukia was near, her presence solemn, but strong.

Alone. He and her were alone. No guards. Not smart. Naruto's eyes snapped open, glowing bloody red. His body was still as death; he wasn't quite human anymore.

"Rukia," Naruto spoke softly, voice a rough, dangerous rumble. Rukia jumped, silent, and smelled of bitter, tangy fear. "Did they hurt you?" She didn't answer and her silence was rewarded with two piercing demon eyes. She gulped through a carefully apathetic façade. "Did they?"

"No," the woman finally answered quietly, slowly. "They wouldn't unless I fought back."

Naruto nodded sharply, "You didn't fight."

Rukia shook her head mournfully, "No, but Ichigo did."

"How badly did he lose?" Naruto asked, jaw tight.

"There is little doubt he's dead," she replied coldly, turning away from the meaningful, devil gaze.

Naruto's body grew taut, progressively straining harder against invisible bonds, "Since Ichigo can't," he bit out through gnashed, grinding teeth, "I'll just have to rescue you for him!"

Rukia gasped in alarm, "Naruto! You can't! It's impossible!"

"Nothing's impossible for Uzumaki Naruto!" Determination brought a new, different glow to his bloody gaze. Sweat beaded on his flesh, a sign of his exerted strength. Muscles, normally slim and lean in appearance, bulged threateningly into stretched skin. A slight glow lighted around his arms. And, inch by inch, space appeared between him and the chair.

Rukia stared in amazement, confounded. "But, but…" Hope welled up in her chest, almost closed her throat in its momentous, sudden onslaught. She'd watched her elder brother, a captain of the thirteen squads, secure those bounds (physical and reiatsu suppressant), and yet this boy looked so close to success in breaking them. It was unbelievable and – Naruto snapped harshly back into the chair – impossible.

"I told you, impossible."

Naruto grinned at her, mouth open with his gasps. It was a feral sight, with his demon eyes, roughened whisker marks, and elongated canines unbefitting of a human. "That was only ordinary plan A. Bound to fail, but always worth a try."

"What exactly was Plan A?"

"Sheer brute force and plenty of reiatsu." His grin widened, spoke of a plan. "Plan B's gonna have people freaking out."

"Why?"

Naruto gathered chakra to himself, from himself, unfamiliar yet instinctive, contorting his hands. Then, in a poof of unexplainable smoke, a copy of himself appeared, grinning almost stupidly.

"An illusion? How is that going to help?" Rukia murmured skeptically, "Wait. How'd you use your reiatsu?"

Both Naruto's turned to her, simultaneous in their eye crinkled amusement. "Why'd I stop using you guys, again?"

The free blond smirked, "You've been too preoccupied with Ta-tsu-ki." The clone made a kissy face, "Your girlfriend."

"Cheeky bastard."

"It-It talks!"

The clone scoffed, crossing his arms, "Of course I talk, I'm not stupid."

"But…"

"Didn't I tell you? Plan B's gonna freak people out!" Naruto grinned. "Do it, me."

"Gotcha, boss. Replacement Jutsu."

There was another burst of smoke with nothing immediately obvious as to changes. "Ah, feels good to be free," said the standing blond, rolling his shoulders and stretching.

Rukia's gaze snapped back to the chair and she gasped once again. It was empty, with the faintest wisps of smoke. "How…?"

"Heh, its—" He stopped suddenly, cocking his right ear towards the cell bars.

"What is it?" Rukia whispered, anxious.

"Hurried footsteps, more than one person, running this way. We gotta hurry."

"But – Ahhh!" Rukia screamed, face contorted in clear pain. Naruto jumped and yanked his chakra back. The woman's voice cut off, replaced by heavy panting. "What, was that?"

Naruto frowned and glanced over his shoulder. "They're almost here. I have to go, but I'll be back. I promise."

"Hey! What're you – argh!" With a puff of thick, chalky smoke, Naruto appeared outside the cell, the screaming soul reaper occupying his previous position. The blond hastily yanked back his chakra. The soul reaper collapsed while his partner, a blond, average man, gaped.

"You… What did you do to him?" Of course, the man didn't wait for an answer, hand flying to his sword. Naruto's foot slammed into the man's temple, and he didn't get up.

He'd drawn too much attention. Stay meant capture. Capture obviously wasn't good. However, running meant leaving Rukia. That, too, was not good. The enemies were close to arrival.

"Go!"

Naruto nodded sharply, a determined glow returning to his devil eyes, "I will come back."

&&&

When he'd planned his escape, which isn't to say he planned much, Rukia's presence was guaranteed. She was necessary. Unfortunately, every plan he'd had, which, again, wasn't many, involved Rukia. Clearly, she wasn't with him, and, therefore, Naruto was blindly, and hopelessly, lost.

And he was being followed. He knew it, could feel that fact in the tingling in his gut, yet he couldn't locate the source, the stalker. There was no rest for the stalked in enemy territory and he was most definitely in enemy territory.

He was caught, of course, by stupidly jumping into the path of an approaching soul reaper (something which could have been much easier avoided if Rukia had been with him). To discredit the blond even further, Naruto stumbled into a dead end (again, Rukia's presence would have been very helpful) followed by the group of soul reapers heeding the call of the first. "Halt. Who are you, intruder?"

Naruto grinned cheekily, "I guess I'm Intruder. Nice ta meet ya."

The leader of this band of fighters (obvious by his forefront position and voiced command) was a hulking brute of a man, broad shouldered, barrel-chested and whatever else involved in such a body structure, with wild, short black hair. Borne threateningly in the man's large, pan hands was an average, but gleaming sharp sword. And this man, ugly in his unappreciative of humor glare, set his strict, dark eyes upon the blond. "Surrender or fight."

"Um," Naruto shifted. "Fighting sounds good."

The large man set himself more formally in a fighting stance, but spoke coolly one more time to the blond, "Fight or surrender, it still leads only to one thing."

"Oh?" Naruto crossed his arms and somehow managed to smirk down at his much taller adversary, "And what's that?"

"Your death!" The soul reaper roared and charged, strict and controlled in his forward momentum. Unfortunately for him, even that couldn't quite prepare him for the blond boy simply leaping, quite elegantly, over him. The man skidded to a halt just before reaching the wall.

"Not even a 'get ready, get set, go?' Tch, tch, shameful." The full blown grin on Naruto's face contradicted his snarky tone. "And," he continued, spreading his empty hands in a magnanimous motion, "I don't even have a weapon. How ever will I manage?"

The blonde's current opponent didn't have the decency to respond, his ally however, had enough lack of shame to try and shove a blade into his back. That action was met with a kick to the backstabber's temple and Naruto acquiring a weapon. Naruto shoved a foot into the down man's side, "I bet you were a ninja when you were alive, with morals like that."

Naruto spun, calmly and with his center of balance still quite intact. With a clang, the blonde's new sword proved its usefulness. "Eh, not too bad." Another slash was blocked, then another, and then Naruto struck back. That, of course, was blocked. He wasn't a master swordsman, had no reason to be, but he knew enough to kill if he had to, which pretty much meant he knew perfectly well how to handle a sword properly.

Another strike, another, another, another. He was faster than the man, much faster, perhaps less experienced, just as graceful on his feet, but most definitely faster. And that's why Naruto won; because he could outmaneuver the far slower man. Naruto tried not to kill him, honestly, having aimed for non-vital areas, until he finally rammed his sword hilt deep into the man's abdomen. The blood was artery red and emptied quickly.

The man was Naruto's first kill, and the blond didn't even know the man's name.

"N-no way! Hayato!" Another soul reaper rushed forward, perhaps to help the helpless man or perhaps attack Naruto. Either way, a hilt quickly found itself meeting on a personal basis with the man's head.

"Mori!"

"Focus! He can't take us all at once. Let's get him!"

"But, Kurohashi…"

"I'm commanding officer here, you will listen!" The man, tall and lean and angular faced, growled, glaring. "This is our home and if you can't defend it, you deserve to die!"

Though not a particularly motivating phrase, the words still had the soul reapers readying for battle. Naruto nodded, sadly, determinedly, anxiously, and firmed his jaw to the bloodbath surely about to occur. He had a promise to keep, and he always kept his promises, that was his nindo, no matter how long it had been since he'd been an actual ninja.

They charged at the same time Naruto shoved his acquired blade into the ground, forming a seal in front of him, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four clones of Naruto came into existence with enough smoke to mask all five Naruto's movements. And they attacked with little mercy, reverting to a mindset that had been shoved into them but hardly ever used.

It wasn't hard, defeating the group, some dead, some crippled, some easily healed, but all down. It was ridiculously easy, exactly as it shouldn't have been to take a life. He'd resolved to apologize, though none would hear it, not the dead nor the living, but he'd resolved to apologize the moment he knew he'd have to kill some of them, the people, the soul reapers.

He didn't get a chance. He was beginning to kneel down, knees bending, not caring they were headed towards blood, when he was hit from behind. It was a blow to the head, and his vision blared white before darkening to fuzziness. A man was standing over him. He had short hair and might have been wearing glasses, but he was mainly white over black, then mostly black or was that his vision going bye bye?

&&&

Naruto was floating, or was he? He couldn't tell. There was nothing under him or below him or anywhere around him, but he was being pressed from all sides. It was dark, too, or maybe there was just nothing to see. Maybe he was everywhere, or nowhere.

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato."

The blond turned, but realized he didn't when he didn't actually move. He couldn't move. There was nothing to move. But, he saw what he needed to see. "King Shinigami." He didn't really talk either, but the words were formed and echoed about where ever he was. "I killed so many people today."

"Yes, I know." King Shinigami body didn't move, but his body seemed corporeal enough.

"You know?"

"Yes."

Clear, succinct, concise, exact; that should have been the definition of that word, yet there was so much obscurity in that simple word that those descriptions were inevitably wrong.

"What will you do about it?" But, Naruto couldn't even begin to convey his worry. He felt lacking or dead or both. He couldn't bring himself to emotional responses.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Vaguely, he wondered why, but again, couldn't bring himself to care enough to be convinced of his curiosity.

"There is absolutely nothing to do, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Oh. Okay."

"I'm here to inform you of the next part of you mission." The slight desire to ask where 'here' was, was repelled by the overcoming need to get away, to not have to hear his mission. He didn't want it; he liked the way his life was. It was the strongest emotion Naruto had felt since arriving at this indistinct place.

"No," he moaned, and that was all the protest he could manage.

"The soul reaper, Aizen Sousuke, will approach you with an offer. You will accept it and do everything in your power to bring his goals into fruition."

"Yes," Naruto agreed lethargically. He knew he had no choice; with this being, he never would.

"You will need two things. One I will give you, and the other you will retrieve from within yourself. It got you here, and it will take you back."

"Yes."

"And remember, all that you do for Aizen Sousuke is done under my authority."

Something uncomfortable squirmed in the blonde's not-here gut, "Yes."

"Then off with luck, young Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato."

&&&

Naruto came awake slowly, groggy and inordinately tired. He was uncomfortable, arms spread wide and holding his weight. Chains rattled when he moved. He groaned.

"Finally awake, are you?"

Naruto didn't have the energy to smirk, still he murmured, "Bit cliché, eh?" A foot, Naruto was sure, rammed into his stomach. "So that's the kind of captivity this'll be," he slurred.

"Shuddup and open your eyes!"

"Maa…"

The man, for it most definitely was a man, growled. "So, I hear you're a demon."

"Yeah," Naruto breathed softly, "I've heard that too. But, I'm not."

"Is that so, de-mon?"

"Nah, I'll fucking eviscerate you soon. Heh, big word."

"No, I think not. But, I bet you're thinking, 'What's stopping me? Nothing.'" Dirty fingers threaded into blond hair, lifting Naruto's head. His blue eyes, unlike his body, were not tired.

"'Member, I'm not cliché like you." The man snarled and slammed the blonde's head against the wall. "Ow…"

"You're mine now, demon, mine! You can't escape. The entire cell is designed to completely drain spirit energy. But, that just proves you're not normal, it'd kill anyone else. It'd been deigned inhumane, but since you're not human, it's perfect for you, isn't it?"

"Heh, that's what you think."

"Oh, I know what you're thinking, I know! You're thinking you escaped so easily before, this will be no different! That's what you were thinking, wasn't it."

"May 'ave crossed my mind, briefly." Naruto was backhanded across the face.

"Of course it was! There's nothing else you could be thinking with such a defiant look!"

"Maa, you aren't right in the head. Oof!"

The man smirked, "But that's impossible, you know," he murmured silkily, "Escaping, I mean. That chair they had you in is a pansy alternative to this. But you can feel that, can't you? The sucking of your energy."

"Eh, who knows?"

The man shoved him into the wall angrily, "You will not be so proud when you're dead."

"So… you're planning on killing me?"

"Me? No, never. You're going to be executed with the traitor Kuchiki Rukia."

"What?"

He grinned malevolently, "Yes, you're gonna die, but maybe with good behavior, you'll live a bit more comfortably."

"No, no! What was that about Rukia?"

"The traitor's going to be executed in a month's time."

"What for?"

"For being a traitor, of course.""Helpful." Naruto was backhanded.

"Are we ready to cooperate yet?" The man asked silkily, "Say, 'Yes, master' Say it."

"No dipshit." The man hit the blond and stepped back, trembling.

"I wish I could kill you. I'd do it slowly, and painfully, and you'd have wished for the painless death by execution. Still," And at that moment, Naruto knew the man's eyes were a lovely shade of light green, "When I'm done with you, you'll embrace the inevitability of your fateful death."

Naruto scoffed, but said nothing.

The man smiled and if it wasn't for the subject matter, it would have been such a pleasant smile. "Oh yes, you will indeed." And the man stepped out of Naruto's new home.

&&&

Kushieda Saito. That was the sadist who controlled Naruto's life now. He was a handsome man, slightly round faced with sandy hair and a kind smile. He was an ugly person, and just as much locked up as Naruto. And that made the man all the angrier and torturous.

But, there was one person who visited him almost every day. Aizen Sousuke. This man, a Captain signified by his white cloak, was handsome too, with wavy brown hair, glasses and a kindly smile. He treated Saito the same as his smile, kind and fake.

Saito drunk in his presence like he was a god. And Aizen watched Naruto surreptitiously watch him. Sometimes, the Captain even talked to the blond; short chats, seeming insignificant.

"Do you hate the soul reapers?"

"Should I?"

"Hmm."

Or.

"The world is unjust, isn't it?"

"I suppose."

"Would you like to fix it?"

"Well, yeah, who wouldn't?"

Aizen boggled Naruto; he couldn't discern the man's motives. Still, he had his orders, so when, a bit less than a month after he was captured, Aizen came alone, Naruto paid attention.

"Do you want to die?"

"Who does?" Naruto shrugged, rattling his chains with a sardonic grin, "But I don't have much choice, do I?"

"If you had a choice," Aizen spoke carefully, "Would you choose life?"

"Depends," Naruto murmured shrewdly, "Would the not-death choice be worse than death?"

"Certainly not."

"Hmm, so what you proposing?"

"Smart boy," Aizen smirked. "I have a vision of a future where justice prevails. You wouldn't have been locked up and tortured, Kuchiki wouldn't be awaiting execution for treason that wasn't true treason. The strong will protect the weak so the weak become strong. It will be a world of peace and balance!"

"And?" Naruto asked slowly, carefully.

"I will create that world." The man spread his arms charismatically, "Would you like to join me?"

Naruto knew the answer; in fact, he had no choice. Still, "That'd be treason, right? Releasing me?"

"Yes, but it won't matter for long," the soul reaper replied magnanimously, "Do you accept life for my goals?"

Naruto grinned crookedly, "Not much choice, is there?"

"In our new world, there will be. Are you with me, Naurto?"

"Heh, hell yeah."

Aizen smirked, the first sign that he was anything except just. Naruto pretended not to notice. "Excellent. I will loosen your bonds. If you can escape and stay free of capture until I call for you, then you will have deemed yourself worthy."

"Sounds fun," Naruto stated way too cheerfully to, basically, hide his distaste. "Well, have at it."

&&&

It wasn't hard to escape, though Aizen only performed the barest minimum of loosing Naruto's many restraints. What the man had done had been exactly what Naruto needed.

As callous as it sounds, Naruto killed Kushieda Saito, almost like he'd promised (no evisceration). He'd had a month to come to terms with being a murderer and Saito was a menace that needed to be removed from any kind of society. Actually, that didn't sound callous, it was callous. At least, Naruto comforted him self, he didn't like killing anyone, not even that sadistic bastard.

And then Naruto saw light again; it burned his eyes, but felt so completely wonderful that he basked in the glorious warmth longer that he should have. He felt strength returning. Wonderful.

There was no one around.

Shinobi training kicked in quickly, though, and Naruto bolted. He, of course, took care this time, avoiding soul reapers all together.

He kept in a straight line (mostly) with the reasoning that he'd eventually get out. And get out he did. The wall was floating, still, and Naruto simply walked right under it.

With this, Naruto knew he was out of the direct realm of the soul reapers. How? The soul reaper's dwellings were clean and white while now he was in a dusty, bustling pseudo town with brown wooden buildings and no soul reapers in sight.

Naruto grinned and collapsed, gripping his aching abdomen. "Crap."

&&&

Naruto awoke to food, blessed food. It was cold and waiting for him and begging, singing to him. The food was gone in moments, Naruto's stomach curled forcefully around the foreign substance and held it painfully.

"Totally worth it," he groaned, carefully rubbing his bloated stomach.

"Ah, that was quick," an old man muttered from Naruto's left.

The blond glanced lazily to the man; he was kneeling and stirring a pot, "Hello."

The old man nodded and smiled, "If you're still hungry, this will be done soon." Naruto grinned. "I'm the elder of the First District of Rukongai."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice ta meet ya!"

"So, what brought you here?"

Naruto picked through all his knowledge on Soul Society, admittedly small, and general, and shrugged, "Just wondering around for a better place to be."

The elder smiled sadly. "I see."

"Can I stay here for a night?" The man nodded. "Thanks."

&&&

AN: Well, that's the end of chapter five. Not as dramatic as last chapter and I'm sure you can see what's coming next. Still, I'd like to know what you think, so REVIEW please.

PS: I'm still looking for a beta so if you're interested please contact me.


	6. Keep Down the Noise, Will Ya?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach.

AN: Well, here's the next chapter. I redid the beginning bit so if anything doesn't seem to match...

Anyways, I want to thank those kind people who have reviewed, except for that one guy who used the review function as an advertisement page. The least you could do if you're gonna do that is write 'good story' or something underneath it to let me know if you actually read it.

Enjoy.

&&&

Naruto lay relatively still, not quite asleep, but pretty darn close. It'd been so long since he'd slept with this kind of comfort, and he was incredibly grateful to the old man. Though, the blond wasn't quite sure how far into the morning it was.

Then the old man returned, a noisy group following in his wake. They clambered into the room not at all cautiously and with no regard to the sleeping figure. Naruto grimaced; the bastards didn't even bother to whisper.

The blond rolled over to face the group, eyes glued shut, and grumbled unintelligibly a reprimand, then returned to facing the wall. Naruto smiled at the renewed silence. How awesome was he?

The old man laughed with a fondness only kind old men are capable of relative to strangers, "This is –"

"Naruto!"

"Oof!"

Something soft in the shape of a person landed on him with more force than was absolutely necessary. Arms wrapped around him. Naruto sat up, instinctively shifting the person in his arms into a better position. He blinked down at a messy head of black hair buried in his shoulder.

"Huh?" The person pulled away from his shoulder, turning to look at the blond. It was Arisawa Tatsuki. "Huh?" Naruto looked up.

The elder was staring at the baffled blond, along with Kurosaki Ichigo, Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryuu, and Sado. There was a black cat, too, staring, but Naruto ignored it.

Ichigo's mouth finally closed, "Naruto! How long have you been here?"

"Wha—"

"This is Uzumaki Naruto?" A deep, masculine voice inquired.

"Ahhh! Talking cat!"

The cat managed disdain somehow, "Idiot, can't imagine why you were taken." Tatsuki's grip tightened noticeably. "What's happened to you here?"

One hand scratched the back of his neck, while his other snaked around Tatsuki's shoulders, "Well, I woke in a chair next to Rukia. She thinks Ichigo's dead, but you're not dead, right Ichigo? Heh, nice sword, by the way."

"Go on." The cat urged concisely.

"Oh, right, sorry. So, I tried escaping, and succeeded, and was just about to help Rukia when the guards came, and I had to go, but I promised I'd be back to rescue her in Ichigo's place, but I got captured and they secured me better, but that bastard guard made a mistake and I got out," Naruto sucked in a mouthful of air and grinned.

"Wow." Uryuu breathed.

"I know, right?"

"You were able to say all that without breathing," he continued.

The blond pouted, "Maa."

"Well, it couldn't have been wholly terrible," the ambiguous cat said flippantly, "Soul reapers are not known to treat their prisoners poorly." Naruto's only response to that was a subtle tug at his sleeve.

"So, are you all here to rescue little old me? My heroes!"

"Che, no way." Ichigo muttered.

Tatsuki glared at the orange-haired teenager, "We came to rescue you _and _Rukia."

Naruto patted the girl's head, grinning, "I know, I know."

She swatted his hand, scowling, "I didn't miss you that much." Suddenly, she grabbed his wrist, pulling the sleeve to his elbow. Tatsuki gasped, followed by several others.

Naruto grinned, widely, fake with hidden blue eyes, "I was hoping you wouldn't see that, but oh well."

"Naruto…" Tatsuki murmured softly.

"S'all right."

"What happened?"

The cat prowled forward, bright eyes narrow." Show me your wrist." Naruto didn't move. "Now."

"Fine," he muttered, lowering his red raw and sensitive wrist to the animal. "Pushy pussy." The cat sniffed the hardly healed skin of his previously shackled wrist, eyes momentarily glowing.

"They put you in _that _room, didn't they?"

"That room?" Ichigo asked, confused.

"If that room is a cell where the spark of life can only be taken, then yes."

Uryuu snorted from his corner, "Of course only soul reapers would be arrogant enough to create such a chamber."

The cat, if possible, appeared even more grim, "How are you even still alive?"

"Still alive?" Tatsuki whispered, appalled and ignored.

Naruto smirked darkly, "I guess I'm just made of tougher stuff." He was unsurprised by the animal's appraising look.

"The average Captain would not last more than a week in that room. How long, exactly, did they keep you in that room?"

"About a month."

"What are you?"

Naruto's lips thinned, eyes dark, "Human, I am human."

Tatsuki returned to hugging the blond, "Of course you are."

Naruto smiled softly down at the girl, "Thanks." Orihime decided she would hug the blond, too. He laughed and threw an arm around each of his friends. "Had any luck with the idiot, yet?"

Orihime blushed, "Wh-wha-what do you mean?"

Naruto laughed and gripped the girls tighter, "Gods, I missed you."

&&&

Tatsuki and Naruto sat on the roof of the elder's home, ignoring the commotion below. It was night now.

"Did you train hard?"

"Yes, but it wasn't fun without you."

Naruto grinned crookedly, glancing sideways at the girl, "I'd imagine not."

Tatsuki punched his arm, "Idiot."

"Maa…"

"I trained so I could rescue you, you know," she continued somberly.

"And here I thought you were training for one of your tournaments," he teased.

The girl grinned, "I won, you know."

"No surprises there."

"Should I be feeling inclined to hit you?"

"No, never."

"Hmm…" They were both grinning up at the sky.

"I'm sorry." Tatsuki glanced at Naruto. He was no longer smiling, and her grin irrevocably dropped.

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For everything, for nothing, I don't know, exactly."

"Then why apologize?" Tatsuki inquired, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. A fake grin spread across his face.

"You know what, you're right!"

Tatsuki felt like crying. Something was terribly wrong, but with that grin, Naruto would never admit it. She bit her lip, staring at the blonde's grinning, forlorn face.

"We're going back in, you know."

That horrid grin fell away, "Yeah, I know," he murmured, rubbing his right wrist tenderly, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Yeah."

&&&

"Well, that's interesting."

"The giant hands holding that banner, that banner, or the hulking twins standing on the huge hands?"

"Err," Naruto scratched his nose, "All three."

Tatsuki shrugged, turning a cheeky grin to the blond, "I think you'd fit right in."

Naruto smirked, "Ya think?"

"Of course, ya freakin' freak."

"And what's that say about you?"

"Me?" Tatsuki feigned innocence, a hand placed dramatically over her heart, "Whatever do you mean?"

The blond grinned widely at Tatsuki's image, "You're best friends with this 'freakin' freak,'"

"I am most certainly not!" The dark-haired teen exclaimed, sniffing haughtily through an upraised nose. "Orihime here," she clutched onto a distracted Orihime's arm, "is my best friend."

Naruto turned wide, watery blue eyes on the dark haired girl, "Then what am I?"

Tatsuki smirked, "My lowly servant."

"What!" The blond exclaimed, "No way!"

"Yes way."

"Nuh uh."

"Uh uh."

"Will you two stop bickering and follow the group!"

Naruto snapped into a salute, "Yes, kitty!"

The cat, which had indeed barked at the three (mostly two) sighed in a wholly aggravated manner and continued forward. This time, Naruto, Tatsuki, and Orihime were following.

By the two ugly twins (Naruto failed to acquire their names, probably for the best), the group were lead through a traditional house. Instead of paying attention to where they were going, like a good ninja, and therefore the way out, Naruto was poking Tatsuki in an incredibly annoying fashion, an odd tightness in his throat. She swatted at him, an irritated frown tugging at her lips even as her eyes sparkled with amusement. Naruto was smirking.

Obviously, the two teenagers were the last to enter the room of their destination. By now, Naruto being Naruto, it had evolved into a fast-paced, jerky poke fight. A smooth, confident laugh rolled over the two occupied teens; they glanced up.

A one-armed woman with a wrapped head, tufts of dark hair poking out, stared back with cool black eyes and a smirk. Naruto's eyes glazed over and didn't quite even come close to meeting her eyes.

"Nice jugs."

Miraculously, two fists slammed into the blonde's skull. Ichigo snickered and a foot found his face.

Naruto rubbed his bruised head slowly, glancing between his two attackers. An almost leer twisted his lips as the two woman looked so alike it was easy to imagine Tatsuki with the other woman's breast.

Like Ichigo, a foot found its happy place in Naruto's face. "Nngoww. M'sorry."

"Pervert."

Naruto was most assuredly looking away.

"Well, that was fun. Now what are you doing here, Yoroichi…"

&&&

Crack.

"Crap." Boom. Naruto was thrown into the wall with a loud thud. "Ow."

Ichigo and Ganju, an ugly soul reaper hater who was the pseudo brother of the lady with nice, big breast, snickered at the blonde's painful failure. "Oh, shut up, Kurosaki! At least I can _make _an orb." The orange-haired teen snorted and turned away. "And you ass face, what're you snickering at? My head is bashed in and I'm still prettier than you."

"You wanna go?" Ganju sneered, hand going to the hilt of his weapon.

Naruto threw the ball down, irritation from his failures allowing this tension. "Yeah, I think I do."

"You're not a soul reaper, but practice never hurts."

The blond grinned darkly, crimson bleeding at the very edge of his irises, "I guess this'll be a new experience for you, then."

Ganju scoffed and charged, pulling his weapon.

Naruto swatted away the hasty swipe, driving a knee into the man's gut. The blond grabbed the weapon from Ganju's hand, and threw it aside.

"Oi!"

"I don't have a weapon, its only fair that you don't either." Ganju growled, "You're not scared, right? Now that you're weaponless?" Naruto's voice was a rough approximation of its previous light tones, accompanied by thicker whisker marks and crimson bloody eyes. "Not afraid of little old me, surely." A clawed hand was casually lifted, glanced over, and gouged across wood. The blond grinned wickedly, "Though, I won't blame you if you are."

"Tch!"

"Naruto, what's going on?" Ichigo shouted, coming out of his shock over what was occurring.

Naruto glanced at the orange-haired teen (who gasped at the red eyes) and turned away, bored, "This does not concern you, Kurosaki."

"Is that so?" Ichigo growled, lifting the overlarge meat cleaver he called a sword from his back.

"I don't need your help, soul reaper!" Ganju exclaimed, inching surreptitiously towards his fallen weapon.

"Che, this is my problem now." Ichigo injected stubbornly.

"Why the hell is it your problem?" Ganju snarled.

Jaw set, the teen answered harshly, "Because I don't think that's Naruto."

Ganju's mouth snapped shut, even as Naruto lifted his head in animalistic haughtiness.

"Is that so?" Naruto laughed, "I'm not Naruto? Then bring it on, Kurosaki!"

"Rargh!" Ichigo charged with this battle cry as Naruto roared, a burning red chakra claw shooting out at the orange haired teen. Ichigo threw up his blade and was thrown back through a wall, untouched by the evil chakra.

Ganju lunged for his weapon, rolled as he grabbed it, and charged at the blonde's back. The man smirked as Naruto remained still. He lifted his arm, his strike read, and a fist in his gut. He coughed and was thrown back as well.

The orange haired soul reaper burst through the ruins of the wall, angry, and charged again. Naruto roared and met Ichigo's blade with Ganju's weapon. They were dead locked. "You're wrong, you know," Naruto growled.

"About what?" Ichigo snarled, jumping back as Naruto shoved his foot into Ganju's stomach.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto!" The blond dodged to the right, swinging his stolen weapon at the teen.

"Then why are you fighting?" Ichigo met the blond blow for blow.

Naruto smirked, "Do you expect me to just stand there and let you chop off my head.

"Yeah!" Ichigo growled even as the two jumped apart to watch Ganju stumble by.

"Damnit! Give me back my weapon!" Naruto threw the blade at the man's head.

"Here! Have fun!"

"Well—"

"What's going on here?" Both teens froze at the voice. It was the one armed, big breasted mistress of the house, Kuukaku. On her shoulder was the black talking cat, Yoroichi, and at her sides were Tatsuki and Orihime.

Upon seeing them, Naruto grabbed his head, staring at the group with glowing devil eyes. Ichigo immediately pointed out who to blame, "That's not Naruto!"

Not even Tatsuki denied this accusation, though it was clearly on the tip of her tongue. There was a tense, serious silence.

Finally, Yoroichi jumped from Kuukaku's shoulder, strolling cautiously across the room. The cat glanced at Ichigo, who was battle ready and glaring, to Naruto who was tense with the anticipation of running. "And what makes you think that?"

Ichigo motioned exaggeratedly at the blond, "Well, look at him!"

Naruto's hands clenched into fist and his lips curled into a silent snarl. His eyes, which had been losing there deadly sheen, pulsed with new angry intent. Blood dripped from the pierced flesh of his palms.

The cat turned to the blond, "Can you explain?"

Naruto snorted, "Of course."

"Then do so."

The blonde's shoulders tightened and his face became sour, "I'd rather not."

"Boy…" Kuukaku began warningly.

Naruto shook his head, still hyped on animalistic energy, "Che. I was practically born with this."

"Practically?" Someone asked, Naruto wasn't sure who.

Naruto was scowling, "It was forced onto me mere hours after I was born."

"What was, exactly?"

The blond remained silent, jaw clenched.

"Naruto?" Tatsuki inquired gently.

Still scowling, Naruto fell, rather ineloquently, and gouged his fingernails turned claws into the wood. "I was born in a different world, I came to this world when I was twelve."

"Yeah right!" Ichigo was swatted for his outburst.

"Where I'm form, the life energy used is called chakra, a mixture of physical energy and spirit energy. I know its painful to soul reapers. The world's economy or whatever is based on war and fighting in the form of ninja.

"On the day I was born, a great demon attacked, a nine-tailed fox, the Kyuubi," a gasp at this was ignored, "My home ninja village, Konoha, stood no chance. Our ninja attacked and were slaughtered. The only hope was our Yondaime Hokage, the village leader, my father. He summoned the King Shinigami," another ignored gasp, "and sealed the great demon within me. I was hated for it my entire life, though I only learned why when I was twelve."

"Then how'd you get here?"

Naruto sighed, a wistful, but angry sound. "My best friend turned traitor. I went after him. We fought. I asked for more of Kyuubi's power and he used it as a release to pull me into this world. Here, I met my father who had died sealing away the fox. And I've lived with him since."

Naruto grabbed the blue orb and stalked out of the room, shouldering passed those who would stop him.

&&&

"This is good, Uzumaki Naruto." With the voice of the King Shinigami came a black void surrounding Naruto. The blond kneeled.

"What is?"

"You have given the clues that will bring those who would fight Aizen. If they are smart, they will understand and they will follow.

"But, for now, you need them, though they need not you."

"Who?"

"Child, is it not obvious?" The god's amusement rumbled in the created stillness.

Naruto scratched the nape of his neck, "Uh… No."

"Hmm. You're companions."

"Oh! I get it!" Naruto grinned.

"Indeed." Silence. "You wish to say something."

The blond bowed his head, "The Kyuubi, its still in me, right?"

"Correct."

"Can you take it out?" The blond murmured hopefully.

"I can." Naruto's face beamed happiness. "But I will not."

"What! Why?" He snarled, blue eyes dark with anger as he sprung to his feet.

The fox demon's presence is necessary."

"How can that bastard's existence be needed for anything?"

"I will not tell you every detail, Uzumaki Naruto. The journey must be made of your decisions, not mine, else you will learn nothing of which you need to learn."

"Do you think its fun to speak in riddles?" He asked, confused.

"Yes." Naruto didn't expect that answer. "But it matters little at this very moment."

"Why?"

"You may not see the world, but the world sees you."

"Huh?"

"Serve me well, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto kneeled, "Yes, my King." The black world bled away to color.

"Naruto? Who were you talking to?" Tatsuki asked suspiciously, standing tentatively a few feet away.

Naruto jumped to his feet, laughing nervously, "Uh, no one."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah… bye!" Naruto bolted.

"Oh, I don't think so!"

&&&

AN: Well, that's the end. Please REVIEW. It'll help me write more because I'm currently unmotivated right now!


	7. Two Blade Revenge

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or Bleach.

AN: Short chapter. Not much to say about it, though. Next chapter is much longer than this one though.

Enjoy.

&&&

They were through the barrier invisibly surrounding the soul reapers' domain. The blue bullet barrier surrounding the eight invaders cracked and broke. Momentarily, all was still, they were floating, practically still.

"Grab onto each other, quick! Don't let go!" Naruto, recognizing the serious desperation in the black cat's words, wrapped his arm securely around Tatsuki's waist, reaching for Uryuu as she reached for Sado. Then the calmness erupted in a whiplash of angry wind, pushing and slashing at the airborne souls. Naruto brought his hand together and the world froze.

"Don't reach out to them," a voice whispered soothingly in his ear. It was power, pure and unpure. It was death in a voice, cold and uncaring, with a mocking welcome for those who'd care to see it. Naruto shivered, afraid and delighted.

"Why?" he gasped, quivering in awful delight.

A chill of a smirk rolled over the blonde's shoulders, "They have their paths, and you and the girl must not interfere."

"Why?"

A sharp pain dragged across his cheek, "The events must occur as if you were not here so that your part comes and you're alive to play it."

"And what authority do you have over me?"

Instead of pain, as Naruto expected, a dark amusement flitted through his blond roots, "I may be your power, but I answer to the King first and foremost."

Naruto shivered one last time before the world unfroze. Sado was reaching out with his quiet determination. Ichigo was yelling. It was chaos.

"Naruto! Do something!"

Jaw clenched, Naruto renewed his grip on Tatsuki and let himself, with Tatsuki, fall away.

"What're you doing!" Tatsuki yelled, angry, and quietly afraid.

The separation was inevitable now, "What I'm told."

Tatsuki gripped his shirt tighter as the ground approached, "And who the hell told you that?"

Naruto's jaw remained stubbornly clenched as his back slammed into the ground, protecting Tatsuki from the main impact. The blond dragged across the rubble with the momentum, cradling his friend from harm. With no more momentum, Naruto groaned and let his body go limp.

"Owww…"

Tatsuki jumped to her feet relatively unscathed, "Naruto! You idiot!"

"Maa, maa… No need to yell."

Tatsuki snarled raging silently, having no words to grasp at to accurately describe her fury. So, she stomped and paced, resisting the urge to hit Naruto by slamming her fist into the walls. The poor walls came down with a crash.

"What's with all the racket?" The hapless soul reaper got his lights punched out by an angry woman.

"Ah, that was mean, Tatsuki."

"Would you rather me hit you?" She snarled, shaking a quivering blade at him.

"Ehm, ah, no."

"Hmph."

&&&

"Ugh! We're so lost!"

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault you didn't learn how to sense spiritual energy. Ow! What was that for?" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his bruised head.

"Hmph. And what's your excuse?"

"You're the one who just hit me! Why do I need an excuse?"

"No, you idiot! How come you can't sense spirit energy?"

Naruto shrugged helplessly and casual, "Never got around to it." At her suspicious look, the blond grinned bitterly, "Getting chucked in prison that sucks energy kinda delays such plans."

Tatsuki looked away guiltily, probably thinking she could have stopped his abduction. It was a look that belayed the unresolved issues with the incident.

The blond wrapped an arm around her shoulders, lifting a hand to poke her cheek. He grinned mischievously.

Tatsuki twirled and poked him back. "Ha!"

"Oi! That stung, a little!" Tatsuki smirked. "Oh, you are so asking for it!" He got her in the arm.

"Me? You started it!"

&&&

"Ah, how cute."

Tatsuki and Naruto froze. Naruto was held in a head lock and had one leg snaked between Tatsuki's feet. Both were staring at the soul reaper who'd interrupted their fun.

He wore his uniform without individual differentiation. As a man, however, he was large, bulky and strong, with neat dark hair and heavy brows over black eyes. A scar stretched from ear to lip. It twisted with his dark grin and slashing blade.

"You know, demon, there's an order to kill you on sight with personal discretion for whoever is with you."

Naruto broke from Tatsuki's loose grip, a growl emanating from his chest as he shoved the girl behind him. "Who are you?" The blond snarled.

"Me? I'm no one of importance. But, since I'm going to kill you," he paused, grinning eagerly, "Both of you, I'll tell you. I am Hikari."

Honestly, Naruto couldn't help it; he laughed, "And here I was thinking you were gonna say something stupid like 'I'm your worst nightmare!' Ha! Hikari!" The man frowned darkly. "Ne, Tatsuki, isn't Hikari a girl's name?"

The man's jaw twitched reflexively, "I am female, demon!"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "No way!"

"I suppose she does have a feminine jaw…" Tatsuki mused quietly.

Hikari's, the woman, face was moving onto a strange puce color. Her blade shook in her hand.

"Hey, maybe we could set her and Ganju on a date!"

"That'd be mean to their children," Tatsuki scolded gently.

"Eh? Maybe they'd have otherworldly beautiful children 'cause the ugly gene got used up on them."

"Ouch, Naruto, that's mean." She was grinning just as much as the blond.

"Ya think?"

"That's IT!" Hikari finally exploded, "I'm going to mutilate you! Slice the heavens, Windstorm!" With a blast of hot wind, Naruto and Tatsuki fell to their knees, forced their by an unwelcome pressure on their bodies.

"Wha-what is this feeling?"

"This," Hikari began, grinning wide with just the slightest bit of an insane flicker in her dark eyes, "This is power! My power! Windstorm's power! The power to destroy you!"

Naruto snarled, flaring his own spirit energy, shrugging off the pressure, "bit of a power trip, innit?"

"Die!" Hikari lunged forward, sweeping her blade in a wide arc. A gust of slashing wind rushed at Naruto and Tatsuki. They were bashed by dirt and rubble. No reprieve came for them as Hikari's blade gouged a bloody wound across Naruto's chest.

"Naruto!" Tatsuki exclaimed, pulling Naruto back and blocking Hikari's next strike with the blade protruding from her gauntlet. Her battle suit saved her from the sharp flare of wind that whipped around with the clang of metal. The woman glared.

"Okay, that's it! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Ten clones of Naruto were summoned into existence with a large plume of white smoke. They grinned, each pulling out a kunai.

Hikari jumped back, lifting her blade above her and cutting a circle in the air. A blast of heated wind exploded in all directions around her. The clones were snuffed from existence.

"Grr… Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Fifty more clones now existed.

"If it didn't work the first time, what makes you think it'll work the second time?" Tatsuki yelled, her point being proved moments later as a stronger blast destroyed the doppelgangers.

"Did I look like I asked yo—argh!"

"Naruto!" Tatsuki screamed in terror.

Hikari jumped back, flicking the blood off her blade. The motion was accompanied with a thrust of air. She smirked.

Naruto gasped, grasping the hole in the left side of his chest. He coughed, staggered, desperately tried to call Kyuubi's chakra to the wound. The wound only seemed to get bigger, messier.

"I—Crap." The blond collapsed. Tatsuki rushed to his side, still shocked.

"Whoops," Hikari murmured, grinning ferociously, "I seem to have attacked when he wasn't looking."

"You bitch!" Hikari seemed pleased with herself. "I'm going to kill you." Tatsuki stood, slowly, from where she had crouched next to her blond. The blades extended from their gauntlet home with a slow, smooth 'shlick' and her head became covered with the same fabric as her suit. Her body radiated with angry spiritual power. "Goggles." A sheet of plastic stretched across her eyes, held still by blue fabric.

Tatsuki surged forward. A blast of wind met the first clash of metal. Hikari cried out as Tatsuki's blade bit into her thigh. "Two blades bitch, get ready."

&&&

AN: Is that my first cliffhanger for this story? I'm not sure. Anyway, do be so kind as to REVIEW.


	8. To Hell with a Crooked Smile

Allright, here it is. A bit later than usual, I suppose, but here. I had some questions posed to me, so I will answer them at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto.

Enjoy.

&&&

It was hot, and cold, it was dark, and light, it was dead, and life. There was plant life, it was simultaneously dead and alive. It was snowing, there was fire, there was ice, and the sun was shining bright and warm. Nothing was still. Nothing was moving.

"Ugh, am I dead?" Naruto asked, sitting up on dead grass and feeling smooth, lush grass beneath his fingers.

"No, not yet." A voice sneered. A cage appeared. A red fox growled within the cage. It was the nine-tailed fox. "You will be though. I'm not healing you."

"But-But you'll die too!"

Kyuubi grinned, "You're in the land of the dead. Either I'll be released, or reincarnated."

"No way!"

"You can't stop me, meatbag."

"I can however," the voice of the King Shinigami rumbled. "Rather, my power can."

"You wouldn't dare!" Kyuubi snarled, angry.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Find my gift and slay this beast with it. You are not without chance of benefit, beast, for while Uzumaki Naruto searches, you will be free in this realm. If the boy fails, you will be free once more."

Kyuubi grinned as Naruto paled.

"So mote it be." Kyuubi's cage disappeared as Naruto scrambled to his feet.

The fox roared, "Oh, f-ing shit!"

Naruto bolted, mind blank to his given task. The fox ignored him. "Freedom!" Kyuubi pranced happily.

Then the fox was out of sight and momentarily out of mind. Naruto panted.

"Come to me." The blond jumped, glancing around.

"Hello?"

"Come to me." Naruto recognized the voice. It was the voice that had invisibly interfered with his decisions.

"Where are you?"

"Where am I?" The voice tickled with amusement. "The question is, where are you."

"Huh?"

"Where are you, Naruto, where are you?"

"I…" The blond glanced around, really taking in the dual, shifting, dual sights. "I don't know."

"You are where you've always been, and always will be, it has merely put on another face."

"Ah, uh, illusion?"

"Yea."

The Kyuubi roared in the distance, "Meatbag!"

"Crap! The fox!"

"Yes. The fox, the creature is not free. The fox is the answer."

"Um, uh…" There was silence. "My mind! I'm in my mind! Near the seal! Kai!" The scenic surroundings melted away to the dank sewer with the bars of Kyuubi's cage and the fox behind them.

Kyuubi roared, raging, and slammed against the whispering bars. The whispering bars laughed and hissed, "You will only be free if I am taken away! And even still! I will have the power to slay you!"

"Meatbag? What trickery is this? I will devour you! Rargh!"

"Take me, Naruto! Grasp my power and live!" The bars whispered.

Naruto nodded, stepped forward, and touched the prison of the great and terrible nine tailed fox. There was a burst of power, concentrated and wild.

Kyuubi's cage had disappeared and the fox, mimicked by Naruto (who clutched a new straight dagger in his hand), was stunned.

Then, the fox grinned, sharp teeth gleaming, "Thanks, meatbag. Die!" Maul open and ready, Kyuubi lunged forward, taking the still stunned blond into its mouth.

Naruto yelped, slamming his dagger into the roof of the foxes' mouth. A blast of power surged into Kyuubi's head. The blond was spat out with a glob of bloody saliva. Kyuubi was howling.

The blond jumped forward, climbing the foxes' fur to Kyuubi's thrashing head. Kyuubi roared, its thrashing more focused on removing the blond clutching its fur.

Holding on for dear life with one hand, Naruto shoved the dagger into foxes' eye, forcing as much power into the blade as he could. There was a blinding flash of light. Kyuubi's roar morphed into a dying screech. The dagger glowed red. Naruto couldn't let go, nor would the dagger budge. It burned.

The crimson glow culminated so bright that, even with his eyes closed, he could see the light burning into his retinas. His body burned, but his hand was safe, cool even.

Then the blond was flying through the air, dagger still stuck to his hand. He landed harshly. Something landed next to him with a clatter.

Naruto opened his eyes, groaning as he sat up. A long double-edged broadsword gleamed at his side. The blade was tinted red, as if the steel or iron was mixed with copper. Attached to the hilt with a crimson chain, was a key, square-ish and puzzle-like. The handle, white, was wrapped in black leather. Naruto grasped the sword and was filled with energy.

"Woah!"

There was a howl, and a bang. Naruto snapped his gaze up. A large fox thrashed against a clear window. It quickly grew tired, panting as it sat in front of the unyielding wall. Naruto realized the fox was now powerless.

"Time to go, my Naruto." And then the blond faded from the sewers.

&&&

Naruto sat up, rubbing his eyes in the light. He yawned, as if he had been sleeping quite a long time. The sounds of fighting drifted to his ears. He yawned again.

Someone screamed and a cut up, bloody soul reaper crashed through the wall beside Naruto. He blinked. The soul reaper groaned and sat up. It was Hikari. She had a sword in hand.

The sword quickly whipped up to block a strike from a figure cloaked in cut up blue. A blast of wind physically picked up Naruto and threw him away. "Oww…" he groaned.

The two women turned to him, silently watching the blond with shock as he sat up and rubbed his bruised cranium. He picked out a piece of rubble from his hair and flicked it away. Then, he yawned again.

"Na-Naruto?" The blue-cloaked figure gasped, the mask and goggles falling away to reveal Tatsuki.

"Oh, yo," the blond replied sheepishly.

Tatsuki rushed over to him and wrapped him in a bone crushing hug. Naruto grinned, "Heh, I knew I was irresistible."

The dark haired girl let him go, "You idiot!" And slammed her fist into his skull.

"Ow! What the hell was that for!" Naruto exclaimed, grabbing his throbbing head.

"You know exactly what that was for!" She stomped, then sighed in relief, "How are you even alive, anyway?"

"Eh?"

"It's because he's a demon," Hikari spat, leaning heavily on her sword.

Tatsuki growled at the ugly woman, "You wanna hurry your death along, bitch?"

Hikari scowled, "Che."

"Ah, Tatsuki, you shouldn't…"

Tatsuki stared at him, thoroughly and seriously, and then deflated, "You're right." Naruto nodded. "What should we do then?"

"Err, offer to let her go, but if she insist on attacking knock her out?"

"Don't sound so sure of yourself," Tatsuki teased to Naruto's grin. "Well, you heard him. Choose."

Hikari grimaced, but backed away, "I surrender."

Tatsuki smirked, "Of course. Well, go then."

Scowling, Hikari did so as quickly as her injured body would take her.

"Let's get as far away as possible."

"Yeah, but what the hell?" Tatsuki exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"What happened? What's with the new clothes?" Naruto glanced at his clothing, "Are you all right? Well?"

"Woah!" The blond twirled and stamped his feet, "Wouldja look at that!" A soul reaper uniform replica (all white) clothed the blond, though it held such differences as ninja sandals and a belt to hold kunai, shuriken and a sheath for his new dagger. A sheath for a broadsword was slung across his back, held still by a silver rope. He sheathed the dagger and clumsily the sword after that and pulled a kunai from his belt, twirling it on a finger with a happy grin. "Sweet!"

"Naruto!" The kunai went flying, but returned to his belt the moment it hit the ground.

"What?"

"What happened?"

"Oh, uh, Kyuubi healed me," he patted his chest, "Good as new!"

"And the clothes?"

Naruto shrugged, "Dunno," he grinned, "But they're freakin' awesome!"

The dark haired girl sighed, "Let's just go, okay?"

"Okay!"

&&&

"I'm bored!"

"I'm sure."

"Oi!"

"Did I say something wrong, dear Naruto?"

"Che."

"That's what I thought."

"But it's been forever since we got here!"

"Has it?"

"Yes! We've already slept twice!"

"Have we?"

"Argh!" Tatsuki smirked. Tatsuki: 23, Naruto: 11.

&&&

Hikari breathed deeply, a steadying breath, and knocked. No answer, no answer, no answ—"Enter." Gulping, she opened the door and bowed.

The twelve captains stood in two straight lines with their vice captains behind and too their sides. One vice captain, a red-head by the name of Abarai Renji, was bandaged and injured, much like Hikari herself. At the head of the two lines, directly facing Hikari, stood the Captain of First Squad and General of the Thirteen Squads, Captain Commander Yamamoto. This man was old, almost decrepit, but regal and imperial in his stance and eyes. Hikari kneeled.

"Yuna Hikari," the General began, "How were you injured and why did you retreat when you were still able to fight."

Hikari bowed her head in shame, "I went after the demon." Gazes which had previously only been watching her in boredom or mild curiosity immediately sharpened.

"Why?" An orange-haired woman (vice captain) asked.

"Was he strong?" Zaraki Kenpachi, a captain renowned for his aggressive bloodlust, growled eagerly.

"How are you even alive?" Another vice-captain exclaimed, opening his mouth to continue.

"Silence!" Yamamoto ordered. "Why did you go after the demon?"

Hikari's jaw clenched, "I thought I could take him."

"And how did you do?" A bemused Aizen inquired.

"I thought I'd killed him."

"Really?" Ichimaru Gin smirked, "How could you be so foolish as to think you killed him?"

Hikari lifter her head and glared at the white-haired man, "I put my blade through his left lung and possibly nicked his heart. He collapsed seconds later."

"So you got your injuries fighting him?"

Hikari's jaw clenched visibly with anger. "No. He had a companion. She also thought he was good and dead, and attacked me for it. Her armor was resistant to my attacks."

"And the demon? You've implied he wasn't dead, but a wound to the lung alone would be hard to recover from without medical assistance, if its not impossible," the General prompted seriously.

"In the middle of my fight with the demon's companion, the demon revived. He was different though. He was dressed in a white replica of the soul reaper uniform and had a dagger in one hand and a reddish broadsword to the height of his torso in the other. He also radiated power."

"And how did you escape? He has proved he has little qualms with murder."

Hikari's head re-bowed with shame, "He let me go?"

"Let you go?" Was asked incredulously, "Why?"

"I think," she began hesitantly, "he may have been trying to protect his female companion from seeing or dealing out death."

The Captain of the Research Division, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, laughed, "Awfully considerate of a demon."

"Indeed."

&&&

"There you are. I've been looking all over for you."

"Hi Kitty!" Naruto waved, grinning at the black talking cat. "Where've you been?"

Yoroichi snorted, "I've been around. What have you two been up to?" The cat asked staring pointedly at Naruto.

Tatsuki shrugged, "We're actually quite lost."

"Hmm, well, come on then. I'll take you to our hideout."

"Alright. So, how is everyone?" Tatsuki inquired curiously.

"I don't really know for sure, though I left Ichigo to rest after his fight with Zaraki Kenpachi. I believe, though, they might have been captured."

"Heh, some rescue mission. Ow! What was that for?"

"For being stupid," the dark-haired girl replied, rolling her wrist. "Obviously."

"Hmph," Naruto sulked. "So do you know anything about how they did, even if you don't know where they are?

"Nope."

Naruto frowned, "What about Ichigo? I can't imagine him blundering his way through this mission without fighting."

"Like you're one to talk!"

"Meh."

"As I said, Ichigo is resting in a safe place. He fought a bald guy, a vice-captain, the red-haired one that took you away, and finally ended with Kenpachi, the most blood thirsty captain."

"Awesome." Naruto commented as they arrived at a building with a large wooden door. Naruto pushed it open for the cat. It was empty.

The cat bristled, "Stay here, stay quiet, and wait for me to come get you. Understand?"

Naruto saluted, "Gotcha." The cat sped off. "So, we're all alone, in a dark room, with nothing to do. I wonder what might happen…" the blond waggled his eyebrows and was rewarded with a fist for his efforts. "Ow…"

&&&

It was quiet save for a soft, steady snoring. Naruto and Tatsuki are in corner, the blond asleep and the girl silently leaning against him, eyes closed and peaceful, but awake. Then, the wooden door creaked open and Ichigo's voice rang through the building, grouchy and annoying.

"Quiet boy." A woman's voice growled. Silently, Tatsuki grabbed Naruto's shoulder. The blond shifted gracefully into wakefulness. "I should've kept you asleep."

"Keh," Ichigo muttered. "Why are we here anyway?"

"We're here to pick up some baggage."

Naruto crouched bringing his lips to his companion's ear. "Stay quiet," he whispered breathlessly. "Don't move, try not to breathe. If you're spotted, run or fight. Run if you can't win."

Tatsuki nodded slightly. Naruto vanished.

"What could you have possibly left here?" The substitute soul reaper asked, perplexed.

"Quiet!" The woman hissed. Too late. Ichigo crashed into a wall with a pained cry and the woman found a dagger at her throat and a kunai poised ready not too far from the dagger. The woman shivered at the cold feel of the blade on her throat.

"Who are you?" Naruto growled. "Pretty lady."

"What the hell!" Ichigo roared, charging with his meat cleaver drawn.

Naruto leaped back, clumsily pulling at the broadsword and sheathing the dagger, dropping the kunai which promptly reappeared on his belt. Ichigo's strike was blocked with a clang. Then another blocked and another before Naruto struck out. Ichigo jumped back, slicing his arm forward. The blond knocked the cleaver away, blade for blade.

"Enough!" Both males stopped, turning to stare at the woman. Naruto noticed Tatsuki's dark form sneaking behind. Assured that Naruto was firmly watching and not aggressive, the woman turned into a black cat, Yoroichi to be exact. The black cat wrestled out of the clothes, "Do you understand then?" the cat asked, the same deep voice as before reverberating through the animal's small body.

Naruto nodded, shocked. The can transformed back into the luscious dark-skinned beauty, completely naked. Naruto's and Ichigo's nose began to bleed. Languidly, the woman slid into her clothing. Tatsuki promptly knocked both Ichigo and Naruto in the head for their unabashed staring.

"Ow!" was exclaimed at the same time as "Oi!"

"That's what you get!"

"Hmph." Yoroichi laughed.

"C'mon, I have a better place we can hide out and train."

&&&

"Woah, it's like Urahara's basement," Tatsuki murmured, amazed.

"Urahara's basement looks like this?" Naruto asked, skeptically disbelieving.

The four had arrived in a large, barren space hidden from the rest of soul society. The room was made into the form of a plant less, dusty desert.

"Well, I need to get Ichigo started on his training. I'll come find you when I get him started. He won't need me at all."

"Right." Naruto nodded. "Let's go find a spot. I have a feeling Kurosaki will need tons of room."

"Okay."

&&&

When Yoroichi arrived at Tatsuki and Naruto's chosen area (far, far away from anywhere Ichigo), the blond was amateurishly swinging his sword and the girl was playing with her outfit, reiatsu flaring periodically and randomly. Naruto clearly needed work more (he kind of sucked at the moment), as Tatsuki had proved she could fight with her given weapons.

"Naruto!" Yoroichi barked, her face quickly morphing into a sneer, "Have you ever handled a sword before?"

The blond frowned darkly, "Not this kind of sword."

"Is it really that much different?"

"Yeah, the weight is all weird, and the blade is straight and both edges are sharp. It feels funny."

"Che," Yoroichi snapped, "Bitch, bitch, bitch." Naruto scowled. "The blade is part of you, you just have to let go of preconceptions and wield it."

Naruto's lips tugged downward hesitantly, "I… I stole this power."

"Really?" Yoroichi asked, mildly curious, "How?"

Naruto lifted the weapon, the key and chain rattled, "I killed the owner of this power," he began softly, knowing the sword was the embodiment of Kyuubi's demonic power, "And this sword appeared before me, so I took it, and it's mine, for there can be no other owner."

"Hmm," she chose not to deign that with an audible answer, "And what about the dagger, then?"

The blond touched the knife with a guarded stare, "This is my power. It's… It's dangerous."

"Right," Yoroichi said slowly, "I think the best way to get a handle on fighting with your weapons is with a heavy spar. That's sort of what Ichigo's doing."

Naruto nodded, confused by how Ichigo could be sparring when he was supposedly alone but ignoring it, "Just with the sword, not the dagger." Of this he was absolute and serious.

The dark-skinned woman shrugged, grinning widely, "Alright. Tatsuki, double-team him. Ready? Go!"

&&&

Naruto knocked away Tatsuki's blade and charged under the follow up swing. The chain on his blade extended and swung around to capture the girl. She jumped away, escaping.

The blond leaped back, too, as Yoroichi's foot created a crater in the dirt. She twirled quickly and appeared in front of Naruto. He rolled to the side and the keychain shot at her. The chains trajectory shifted as Naruto used the sword to block Tatsuki's blades.

Yoroichi grabbed the chain, yanked, and let go as a shock of power burned her skin. The chain retracted as the blond slammed the tip of his blade into the earth. Dirt and rocks spurted outward with the expelled burst of power. Naruto flipped in the air to land on his feet. Yoroichi had slid to his left, slightly forward while Tatsuki was directly in front of him, picking her body up off the ground.

Naruto charged Tatsuki as Yoroichi moved forward to attack. She was forced to change direction even as Tatsuki lunged to meet the blond. He slid past her swing and grabbed the dark-haired girl's wrist and collar, exerting enough force to throw her at Yoroichi. Yoroichi dodged.

The blond grabbed his sword from the air, for he had thrown it up to grab his opponent, and swung at the dark-skinned woman charging him. She stalled her motion long enough for the blade to pass and then lurched forward, hand going for Naruto's neck. That pesky key chain wrapped around her and she screamed as a burst of power burned her. The chain snaked away as the blond bodily threw his self at Tatsuki, slamming into her, and pinning her to the ground.

All three were panting, though Yoroichi only did so because of the pain still tingling through her body. "Good job," she congratulated, dusting her clothes off. Naruto stood and helped Tatsuki to her feet. "Both of you."

Both Naruto and Tatsuki grinned with pride.

"Nifty trick there with the chain. 'Can't wait until you unlock shikai, just to see what that's an extension of."

Naruto shrugged, "I doubt it has one."

"Why? Do you think this is the extent of its power?" Yoroichi asked as if that was stupid and unthinkable idea.

Naruto scoffed at her tone, "Oh no, I just don't think this blade is a zanpakuto. Maybe this," Naruto placed his hand on the hilt of his dagger, "But, I think, this'll have nine levels of power. This is level one."

"What makes you assume that?" Tatsuki asked, unaware that Naruto could have such leaps of knowledge and logic (and the ability to apply them) outside of battle.

"Uh, I think it's some kind of instinctive knowledge, I guess. I just know it, never really thought about it."

"So, you used no logic or anything to come to that conclusion?" Tatsuki asked.

"Nope."

"Thought so."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it means!"

Yoroichi left to go check on Ichigo, letting the two banter (or bicker) with each other unimpeded.

&&&

"I'm nervous about tomorrow," Tatsuki stated quietly. It was dark, and she was alone with Naruto.

"Why?" Naruto asked sincerely.

"Because, whether Ichigo is ready or not, we're going to rescue Rukia." A crash echoed in the distance.

"Yeah?" The distant sound was ignored by the conversation.

"What if we fail?"

"If this were some story written by some creepy stalker person who has no social life, I'd say that sounded cliché."

Tatsuki laughed, not really sure why, "Yeah, I suppose."

The blond grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, holding her tightly to his body. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

&&&

Naruto was peacefully asleep when the Shinigami King stopped by for a visit. Unlike any of the other visits, Naruto existed in a landscape and the King was there, on a throne. Naruto kneeled.

"Hello Uzumaki Naruto."

"My lord," he murmured respectfully.

The Shinigami nodded, "Stand." Naruto did so. "Tomorrow Aizen will reveal himself as the traitor he is." The blond stood up straighter, anxious. "He will beckon you come, and you will go. Let nothing sway you away from the path I have given you." Again, Naruto nodded stiffly. The King stood, slowly walked to the blond. The Shinigami touched the dagger, and it flared beneath his fingers, and then grasped the hilt of Kyuubi's broadsword, forearm resting on Naruto's shoulder.

"To activate this power, call out its name and the amount of power you want from it." Naruto nodded, a minute twitch in his jaw. The Shinigami touched the dagger, "This, your power, you must discover it on your own. But be warned, never turn this blade on an ally, and be wary when you wield it against an enemy.

"Right." He knew in his gut the King's words were true.

"My child," the Shinigami murmured, shifting to rest a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "Sometimes one has to do things they dislike, or don't want to do. Sometimes they get to choose, sometimes they don't, but these detestable things, they must get done. Maybe one day you'll get to choose whether to do them or not and you'll realize why I'm having you do this." The King nodded decisively, taking a step back, "Now go. Say farewell without saying farewell."

&&&

Naruto woke with a forlorn shiver. He almost felt like crying. Shit, he didn't almost feel like crying, he was one blink away from sobbing until no more water was left in his body. Jaw tight, the blond stood, shoulders tight, full of anxious energy.

"Naruto?" Tatsuki called. She could hear his labored breathing. "Are you okay?"

The blond strode to where she lay, wrapped in a blanket, but wide awake. Naruto crouched beside her, "I don't know. I had a… I had a nightmare and now I'm suddenly worried about tomorrow."

Tatsuki sat up and grinned a teasing grin, "Is that so?"

Naruto stared at her intensely, eyes dark and sad and heavy and full of something entirely foreign to the girl. Suddenly, Tatsuki couldn't breathe right. "Yes. Something bad is going to happen tomorrow. I know it."

Tatsuki's grin dropped. She'd never seen that expression on the blonde's face. "Naruto," she murmured, reaching out a hand for his face.

"I'm afraid I'm gonna lose you, Tatsuki," he said, knowing he surely would. "I don't want to."

She pulled him into a hug and he wrapped around her with needy arms. And he kissed her.

She gaped in shock. He moved back and buried his face in her neck, afraid to let go. She tugged at his head a moment later to meet earnest and fearful dark blue eyes. And she kissed him.

Naruto surged forward with this permission, pulling Tatsuki flush against his body and let himself fall into passion. He kissed her and she kissed him back. His hand roamed a body they knew, but never so intimately, and Tatsuki's hand copied.

Clothes came off and their subsequent embrace was lust filled and awkward.

&&&

Tatsuki was asleep now, curled in his arms. She was warm and he was sad.

Naruto lifted his body up so he could look at Tatsuki's peaceful, sleeping face. She seemed content. The blonde's chest clenched achingly. This act, passionate and sexual, would surely make the pain all the more unbearable tomorrow, when he would leave her.

He leaned down, kissed her shoulder (a light brush of his lips against flawless skin, really) and she smiled. She murmured something in her sleep. Naruto didn't want to guess what.

"I love you, I think," he whispered back, barely audible, as if someone other that him would hear it. Naruto was beginning to cry, he could feel it in the tightness in his eyes and throat. "God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so…"

"Naruto," Tatsuki grumbled, rolling her head, but clearly still asleep.

Naruto's jaw clenched, teeth grinding as he let his body fall back to the ground, head resting on his lover's shoulder. "So sorry."

"Idiot," she grumbled.

The blond sobbed, "Yeah."

&&&

"Come with me, Naruto," Aizen Sousuke commanded. The man had ditched his glasses and slicked his hair back. He was smirking, holding a sphere between three fingers. "Come, I'm calling you now."

Naruto squared his shoulders, closing his eyes with a steadying breath. He took a step forward, then another. He opened his eyes, looking only at Aizen who stared right back, smirk growing.

"Naruto?" Tatsuki gasped confused, voice warbling. She reached out for him.

His heart spasmed, and he faltered for just a moment.

"Yeah?" He did not stop.

"Why?" Her voice was confused, almost heartbroken, and with a beginning tinge of anger. Her eyes swam with tears.

Finally, Naruto turned to her, fake grin readily in place. But, it was not perfect. His eyebrows came together, the muscles in his neck strained against the skin, and his face was a pasty white color. The anger drained from Tatsuki's face. "Because it is necessary." And then his back was to his lover and his feet once again on the path to his new master. His body shook with the effort. Tatsuki shed her tears for him, for he was a traitor.

The blond reached Aizen and the man put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto felt suddenly slimy. He was still grinning and he looked quite scary with the off set of his features. His friends stared at Naruto, horrified, betrayed, and confused. It hurt to see their anger.

Then they were sheathed in light and floating up. Aizen laughed in his victory. Naruto cried on the inside, the phrase 'I'm sorry' repeating incessantly in his head. And finally, he could see his friends no longer, but Tatsuki's look of despair would haunt him forever. "I'm sorry," he muttered inaudibly.

Suddenly, Naruto was exhausted. He had done no fighting, yet his limbs shook and his shoulders sagged and his mind was heavy. Aizen patted his shoulder, "It was a great sacrifice you made for me today, and it proved your loyalty to me and our cause." Naruto nodded. "Come, I will show you to your quarters. Tomorrow we will begin your training."

"Training?"

Aizen nodded, understanding the silent question. "You have power, yes. I have felt it twice and I have no doubt you only tapped into the very surface of it. But, even the little power you grasped was uncontrolled, wild.

"Undoubtedly, you are strong, but you can be so much stronger. You understand, of course." Naruto nodded, "You are young and understandably under trained. Before you can truly be an asset to our cause, you must become stronger."

"I understand, sir." Asset; yeah, that's all he was now, an asset, friendless and a traitor.

Aizen smirked. It was a dark smirk, and it sent shivers down Naruto's spine. "Here you are, Naruto. Rest well, you will need it."

&&&

AN: Answer time.

**First: Not really a question, but my lack of details was brought up.**

I understand this is my problem in my writing. I acknowledge that and I acknowledge what I do that causes such a problem. When I type up and re-read my chapters I see the lack of detail, but I feel adding detail in would ruin the flow I see in it and there lies the heart of the issue. I'm sorry it bothers any of you, but I don't think its going to change unless something changes in me. However, I thank the honesty of the reviewer who told me that the lack of details was an issue.

**Second: Naruto is completely under the control of King Shinigami.**

Well, first up, Naruto swore loyalty to the King Shinigami. Swearing is another form of promise. Naruto keeps his promises. Ergo, Naruto is completely loyal to King Shinigami, bound by his words. But, Naruto is, indeed the rebellious sort, so why does he so easily submit to King Shinigami? Well, its submit or face torment in the Shinigami's belly for all eternity. Now, Naruto may not be the sharpest kunai in the shop, but he isn't stupid.

**Third: Why is Naruto so weak?**

To begin with, let's take some evidence fromt he Naruto-verse in dealing with Naruto/Tatsuki fighting. Naruto is most assuredly (even in early cannon) stronger than Sakura, yet Sakura still wins. Weak or strong, Naruto has a soft spot for Sakura and Tatsuki. Secondly, for why Naruto won against Tatsuki before that soft spot was developed. One, Naruto didn't really have too much formal taijutsu training. Sure, he knew how to throw a punch and how to keep up in a fight, but he wasn't quite prepared to for a fight where he could only rely upon his fist. The Shadow Clone technique was his greatest reason for winning, without it, well, he's not really all that strong. Thirdly, for the training he had with his dad. They live in a bustling town with an order to fit in and remain anonymous. You can't really learn a bunch of flashy, potential blow-up-in-your-face jutsu under those conditions. The most that could be done is fitness and non flashy move training.

**Fourth: Short chapters.**

I rather like the size of the chapters.

**Fifth: Why doesn't Naruto stand up for himself against Tatsuki?**

My answer for that is: Why didn't Naruto stand up for himself against Sakura? My answer to my question: I personally think Naruto might be a bit of a masochist when it comes to the girls he likes, but what do I know, eh?

**Sixth: What is Naruto's strength in consideration Bleach cannon characters?**

At the moment, Ichigo is stronger. Why? Because Ichigo's a powerhouse, like Naruto, except he's already had more access and training with his power than Naruto who just got control of his. Now that Naruto has access to his weapons, who knows, eh? Naruto's power levels will probably change like they do in the Bleach series, though.

**Sub question to the sixth: Why, then, did Naruto survive a room captains can't?**

The answer is not strength but the fact that Naruto has a near unlimited amount of energy keeping him alive. He lived through the room because Kyuubi needed him to live, at least at that point in time. Who knows, exactly, what was going through a millenia old demon's mind at the time, however, that it didn't just overpower the room and what not. Probably wanted our favorite blond to suffer, however.

Anyway, that's it for now. If your questions or comments weren't answered it means that they will be answered in upcoming chapters or I hadn't thought about them and don't have an answer.

Continue reading and REVIEW. Perhaps leave some ideas because I'm at a bit of a block right now.


	9. How Bad Does It Hurt?

AN: Heh, long time, no see.

Scene Change: Begin Chapter.

Orihime was in an odd position. Tatsuki was crying onto her shoulder, the normal roles between the two girls reversed. Orihime awkwardly patted her friend's back. She had never come across the need to comfort someone in so much distress. She could only do what Tatsuki had done for her.

Orihime hugged tighter, threading her fingers into Tatsuki's hair, feeling for the first time how small her friend was. She always seemed so strong and larger than life and, and not like this. Suddenly, Orihime felt like crying too.

"It'll be okay," Orihime whispered, too afraid to speak louder for fear of the quiver that would surely be present in her voice if she did so. "It'll be okay, Tatsuki, it will."

Tatsuki sniffed, pulling back to rub her eyes. They were red and blotchy and forlorn beyond belief. She smiled for Orihime; it was painful for both of them. "Thanks."

The crying, for the most part, had ended, but Orihime made sure to keep some form of contact between them. Tatsuki sniffed again, "Did you see the look on his face?"

Orihime shivered, the image popping into her mind uninvited and unwanted. The memory was clear and vivid. Naruto was grinning as he walked away from them, grinning like he enjoyed the world, grinning like he was insane. It looked like he was eager to step away from them, and even more eager to cut them down if they dared to try and stop him. The look he gave Tatsuki made Orihime fear for her friend's life.

"Yes," she murmured, "Yes I did."

Tatsuki looked like she was going to begin crying again. Orihime could understand why. Even though that look was never directed at her, the thought that it could've been brought tears to her eyes. "It was so sad, so horrified and broken."

Orihime blinked, "What?"

"You didn't notice?"

"No," she said quietly, "It scared me."

Tatsuki was silent a moment, then nodded with the answer, "You've seen that look before." No, she knew she hadn't. She would have definitely remembered. "Well, not that exact look. This one was worse." Orihime kept her concerns silent. Instead, she asked.

"Why?" She deliberately kept it open-ended, not sure exactly what she was trying to ask.

"He uses it to hide his feelings, to pretend that everything is alright." Tatsuki frowned, gripping Orihime's hand tighter, "I always hated when he used it. It was so fake in its happiness, so horrifying in his need to hide his pain, so wrong in its perfection."

"And today?" Orihime asked hesitantly.

And here, Tatsuki let more tears fall, "He was in too much pain to hide it completely. To see him like that…" She turned into Orihime's arms again.

Orihime understood a little better now the pain Tatsuki was in, "You love him, don't you?"

Tatsuki snorted, body shaking with laughter, "Probably, yeah."

"Makes it all the worse," Orihime murmured softly, gently holding her friend.

The dark-haired girl shook her head, pulling back, "It makes it easier to promise to bring him back."

"Bring him back?"

Tatsuki nodded, "I just know he'll suffer wherever he is, so I have to save him." She was determined.

"I promise I'll help you then, however I can."

Tatsuki hugged her, "Thanks, Orihime."

Scene Change.

Ichimaru Gin was currently watching a blond fight off hollows. He was assigned to watch over the boy by Aizen. Gin, however, did not mind. He rather enjoyed adding to the hollows efforts to eat the blond. Technically, he was there to keep the boy alive. Fortunately, the blond was quite adept at doing that himself.

This was the training Uzumaki Naruto had been assigned. It was brutal and deadly, just the environment Uzumaki Naruto thrived in. Naruto grinned, slicing through the next creature. Gin had told the blond that something called hollow bait had been used; it seriously attracted the beast like flies to dead bodies. Naruto laughed with forgetful delight.

It was then Ichimaru Gin decided to up the ante. Without effort, Gin shot his blade at the blond, knocking the broadsword from the boy's hand as another hollow appeared, followed by three others. Gin grabbed Naruto's sword before the blond even had a chance to look for it. The handle burned so Gin dropped it. Sill, that left the blond without his main weapon.

Naruto jumped away from one swipe and found three claw marks on his back. He cried out, spinning to slam his foot into the hollow's mask. The fabric and the flesh knitted back together to their correct states. Gin had already seen such occur, but assumed it was a power of the broadsword.

The blond growled when the hollows charged all at once with no caution. Super charged kunai buried into two of the creatures' chest while Naruto pulled his dagger to confront the last. The dagger sank into the hollows mask to the guard before the blond viciously yanked it down. The hollow screamed its death, but did not bleed. It fell, dead. Naruto spun and killed the other two hollows in a blur of movement. They, too, did not bleed.

Naruto sat, breathing heavily. With one incredibly deep breath, the bodies of the hollows were sucked into Naruto's mouth. The air around Naruto charged with the creatures' power. The blond was revitalized and horrified.

Gin was surprised. That was downright hollow-ish, and the boy was most certainly not a hollow. Gin grinned; what an interesting little demon boy; human yet able to eat souls. Aizen would be interested to know this.

"You ready to stop hyperventilating yet, little Naruto?" The blond glanced up at the silver-haired man. "Let's go. I have some place to be."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, to say he wasn't tired, but realized, like a smack to the face, that he wasn't tired because he'd _eaten_ the souls of these creatures. He closed his mouth, and nodded. "Okay."

Scene Change.

Aizen sat on a stone throne, legs crossed and jaw resting on posed knuckles. Before him stood the silver-haired Gin, casual and mysterious, eyes closed. "So," Aizen began, leaning forward, just slightly, "What have you learned about him?" There was no need to specify who the powerful man meant.

"Phenomenal, for one so young. Powerful, enduring, graceful, and with a remarkable healing ability I originally attributed to his sword. Here, he would be considered weak." Azien frowned. "Except he never unlocked the power hidden in his blade, and hardly tired after several hours of constant danger."

"Interesting. Continue."

Gin nodded, "However, I was bored with his easy displacement of the hollows so I took his sword away. It burned my hands."

"Hmm," he didn't given his thoughts away, "And how'd the boy do."

"Three hollows appeared simultaneously," Gin grinned, "He kicked one and another slashed his back. The wound healed instantly and he threw throwing knives at two and killed the other with his dagger, then the other two. Then he sucked the souls into his mouth, like the beasts he killed, clearly energized."

"Really?" Aizen leaned forward, obviously interested, "Any speculations as to why?"

Gin nodded, "The dagger. It cut and killed the hollows, just like his other sword, but they did not bleed or dissolve. I believe that dagger take soul cutting to a whole other level, beyond that of the soul reapers."

"Hmm… You may go now."

Scene Change.

Naruto stood quietly behind Yami and Ulquiorra, he had been ordered not to fight unless he had no choice. He was here to distract and disconcert those who would stop the two arrancar on their quest. Of course, that only worked if those who came to stop the two knew Naruto. It was also a test of Naruto's loyalty.

Naruto looked on coldly, as he quickly learned to do in the friendless world of Hueco Mundo, as Yami sucked in dozens of souls. Silently, the blond apologized for their deaths. That was all he could do.

The large oaf of an arrancar bantered to himself, complaining, but Naruto didn't listen. He didn't want to. It was easier to restrain his anger at the heartless, selfish beast that way.

He looked away, sensing his father coming. That was another skill he learned in Hueco Mundo. You didn't survive if you didn't know where everyone and everything was. It took plenty of wounds and pain before the blond learned that valuable lesson.

Sado and Tatsuki arrived. The power of their souls prevented them from being taken but at the same time pulled them towards the arrancars causing the disturbance. Sado had his arm materialized and Tatsuki looked beautifully angry in her blue battle suit.

She charged Naruto immediately upon seeing his stoic form. Her blades weren't out. She wanted a hand-to-hand fight; she wasn't willing to hurt him yet. It reminded him of his fight with Sasuke; he had never truly wanted to hurt him, even as a small bit of Kyuubi's chakra clouded his mind. Unlike Sasuke, however, he also wasn't willing to truly hurt her.

He stared coldly at her approaching form. He wouldn't pull a sword until she did. Tatsuki moved to punch his unguarded face and he backhanded her for her efforts. Her body spun away.

Naruto shook his head, slowly. This was an unfair fight. He had trained, practically nonstop, against opponents that would sooner kill and eat his soul than let him live. And, those were the scenarios in which he learned best.

And how had she trained? Against people who stopped her when she just barely hit exhaustion? By herself when she could only learn so much? Did she hit a block when he himself couldn't?

Tastsuki stood up, angry and sad. His father was close. The fabric of her suit grew to mask all but her eyes. Her blades slid out of her gauntlets. He nodded and drew his sword.

Tatsuki charged again. She was faster than the last time they truly fought, but he was still so much faster. Blocking the girl's blades was child's play for the blond. He was only defending himself. That was within his orders, sort of. He wouldn't deny Tatsuki as to not fight, even as he was now.

"Stop playing around!" She snarled. Minato had arrived, sword in one hand and a Konoha forehead protector, Naruto's, in the other. Naruto blasted Tatsuki with a minute bit of the foxes' power. She screamed and collapsed and did not get up.

Naruto turned to Minato, "Hello, father." The man's face was twisted in anger and love. Naruto suspected their King had told Minato that Naruto truly betrayed them. Minato was a terrible actor.

"Naruto," the man hissed, "What have you done?"

Naruto looked to the forehead protector still stone-faced, "What have you brought that for?"

Minato threw the object in question at his son's feet, "You're betraying them, you know!" the father snarled, "You're hurting them!"

Frowning, Naruto picked up the reminder of his past, delicately running his finger over the leaf symbol, over the metal where'd he'd carved his name. Memories of his friends, of Iruka, ofSakura, of Sasuke, of Tsunade and Shizune and Kakashi and Jiraiya, of Neji and Lee and Tenten, all the rookie nine and their sensei, ran through the blonde's mind.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow, carefully apathetic, "So?" Naruto laughed. It was a cold, humorless laugh. "But, since this is mine, I think I'll keep it. Then you can think of me and the atrocious deeds I'll commit wearing it."

Minato's face twisted mournfully as Naruto carelessly shoved the memento into an inner pocket of his clothing. "You really did betray us, truly and completely." Naruto shrugged as the man straightened, letting power sheathe his form. "Under the authority of my Lord, you, Uzumaki Naruto, will be executed."

Naruto nodded, letting his own potent power come to the fore, "Bring it, old man!" Minato's jaw clenched as a completely Naruto smirk stretched across the boy's face. This was his son again. Could he really murder his own son?

Then Naruto charged, leaving Minato no choice but to fight. Minato was a better swordsman, that was clear as the boy clumsily blocked his strikes though expertly wielded his blade. The liberal use of Kyuubi's power made the man shiver though.

Despite being more adept at sword combat, Minato was losing. Naruto took hits, and healed instantly, only taking the time to wince and grimace, while Minato was covered in time cuts and gashes, bleeding and not healing. Naruto's lack of experience clearly meant little due to his stamina and unnatural regeneration.

Namikaze Minato was fighting a losing battle and the man knew it. Still, he fought on, loyal to the King and the King's rules.

"Naruto," Minato received a slash just under his left eye and Naruto jumped back to face the arrancar that had spoken his name. "It's time to go."

Naruto nodded and waved to Minato, appearing at the arrancars' sides in a swirl of leaves. It was a mocking and hurtful gesture. It succeeded in making Minato frustrated and hurt. "Goodbye, Father." And a portal to Hueco Mundo swallow the three villains.

Minato collapsed, tears building in his eyes. How had it come to this? What had he done to make his son betray him, him and the King?

"Minato?" The man turned his head to see Tatsuki tentatively rubbing her cheek where a bruise was already forming. She was sitting, legs crossed, and body sagging with exhaustion. "Are you okay?"

Minato nodded, turning to look at the sky, crying now. How had Naruto betrayed this girl who cared for his son so deeply? How could he?

Scene Change.

Ulquiorra had just finished explaining his part of the trip to the human world, including his observation on an orange-haired girl by the name of Inoue Orihime. He could tell Azien was interested in the girl's healing power, if it was indeed a healing ability. Ulquiorra knew that he'd soon be given the task of acquiring the girl.

"And how did Naruto do?" Ulquiorra nodded, knowing this was the next topic of the report.

"He was quickly confronted by Arisawa Tatsuki, his best friend. He did not pull his sword until she did."

"So, he disobeyed my orders?" Aizen asked, dangerously cool.

"In a way, yes. He never really attacked the girl except for when a man he called his father arrived. Uzumaki was unsurprised to see the man and I surmise he sensed him coming and used the girl as an excuse to have his blade ready for his arrival."

"Did they fight?"

"Yes, but not immediately. The man asked him about betrayal and threw down an item. Uzumaki took the item and the man announced that he would execute Uzumaki. Uzumaki charged after they both released an impressive amount of power."

"Really, and how'd Naruto do?"

"Uzumaki was winning when I called him off. But, the man was the better fighter. Uzumaki clearly lacks skill when it comes to one on one sword combat." Ulquiorra considered a moment, "If the man was indeed Uzumaki's father, then the healing ability is not paternally inherited."

"Interesting." Aizen was silent, thinking. "On your next mission to Earth, you will kidnap Inoue Orihime and investigate Naruto's father. Await further orders on when this mission will take place."

Ulquiorra bowed; that was his queue to leave.

Scene Change.

Naruto kneeled before Aizen having been summoned to him. It was not an uncommon occurrence. Aizen sat languidly on his throne.

"Welcome, Naruto." Naruto said nothing to the greeting as was required. He responded the first time and found himself face down on the floor with the pressure of the man's spiritual energy digging him into the ground. He hadn't made the same mistake again. Aizen smirked. "I've heard you picked up an item in the human world. May I see it?"

Naruto nodded. He stood, pulled out the forehead protector, strode carefully to Aizen, and handed the memento to the man. He quickly stepped back and returned to kneeling.

"What is it?" Aizen inquired, turning the metal and cloth item over in his hands.

"A forehead protector, my lord."

"And why did your father think it would have a turning effect on your decision to follow me?" The man asked, tracing the name scratched harshly into the metal.

"It's a memento from my childhood. He thought it would remind me of all the good memories I had." It would not do to lie to this man.

"And did it?" Aizen questioned casually.

"No," Naruto lied bringing up all the harsh memories of his childhood (the cold looks, the people who sought to hurt him, the people who acted like he was the plague, the torment, his pain and his anger) to complete the next par of his lie believably, "It reminds me of all the pain and hatred I felt as a child."

"Hmm," the man replied ambiguously, "And why did your father think the opposite?"

Naruto clenched his fist in real anger this time, "I didn't even know who my father was until I was twelve when the man finally came and took me away when I was finally doing good for myself. He just assumed I'd have the perfect life like he had wanted." Naruto sneered, "Idiot." And the blond truly thought that of his father for believing what he did.

Aizen nodded, satisfied, "I see." The man tossed the forehead protector. It slid to a stop in front of the blond. Naruto didn't reach out for it. "You will begin sword training with the Espada. You are forbidden from using your dagger. Prepare appropriately, for you will have one fight a day, with your free time used to recover. Now, go, this training begins tomorrow."

Nodding, Naruto tucked away the forehead protector, stood, bowed, and left.

Scene Change.

Naruto sat up from his bed. Aizen had overestimated the time he'd need to recover. Still, it took hours to heal from each match he'd had with on of the Espada. Several long, painful hours. But, considering the conditions those fights left him in (usually with at least one fatal wound) he recovered faster than anyone else could. Hell, he'd even come to look forward to those fights, for the actual combat and for the hours of free time he was left with afterward.

The blond laughed, raspy and quiet. Naruto rubbed his throat, apparently the fatal, flesh wrenching wound he'd acquired there wasn't healed quite yet. That particular wound had ended the fight and he'd been moved here, to his quarters. At the moment, there was an angry red scar across his throat.

Like he always did after he'd mostly healed, Naruto pulled out his forehead protector. He gently traced the leaf symbol. This was an incredibly bad habit he realized, living in the past, but it was so addicting and he had nothing else to do. He was on the evil side now (though they didn't have cookies), he was supposed to have a few quirks. Naruto laughed at the thought of a quirky villain and rubbed his throat for it.

Naruto stood suddenly, tying the forehead protector to his forehead, bringing it as close to his mind as possible. He imagined he was a ninja again, that Sakura and Sasuke were at his side and Kakashi in the lead. The blond smiled, further imagining some villain taking a princess hostage and he, Uzumaki Naruto, as her savior. He laughed, falling into a stance, as if confronting a villain. Natually, he pulled his broadsword, the light shining off its reddish metal.

"I'm here to save the princess!" Naruto announced to the make-believe villain heroically. 'No!' the villain screamed, 'She is mine! I will never let anyone take her!'

Naruto slashed his blade, "I-" he began and stopped when he saw a portal open following the path of his blade. He looked in to see where it lead, and stumbled back, hitting the edge of this bed and falling back onto it.

He lay there, stunned. That was the Hokage Monument, complete with Tsunade's serious face. He'd opened a portal and saw the Hokage Monument. That meant… That meant he'd opened a portal to Konoha!

Naruto gasped with that realization and scrambled to his feet. The portal was gone though, and he fell back to the bed, lifting Kyuubi's blade above him. The key swayed on its chain.

For the first time in so long he'd felt hope swell in his chest. Hope that he would see his friends again, hope to see his home, and Tsunade. Hope that had been crushed, but now was very much revived, scratching and screaming at him to try again. But how? Naruto twirled the blade. It had something to do with this sword, Kyuubi's sword.

Naruto shot off the bed again, "Kyuubi's sword!" Hadn't the King said the Kyuubi had the ability to move between dimensions because of a key. "A key!" Naruto grabbed the chain dangling from the handle of his blade. This was the key that had allowed Kyuubi to pull Naruto from his home world. Naruto now had all that was Kyuubi's save the creature's body, and therefore…

"I can visit my friends again." This realization left the blond stunned and, once again, he fell to his bed. "I can move between dimensions." This statement had less of an impact, but his mind, hopeful as it was, took it as a way to not get his hopes up too much. "I have to test this."

He stood, picking a dimension, "Hell." He slashed Kyuubi's blade. Nothing happened and Naruto frowned. Why had it worked before? He'd been pretending to be a ninja again because he wanted to go home, to Konoha. He wanted to go somewhere, to another dimension! That was it! "I want to go to Hell!" At any other time he would have laughed at the absurdity of him saying that, but he just slashed the air. A portal to Hell opened and he grinned in accomplishment, ignoring the horrors that Hell showed him. "Close." The portal closed, and the screams died away.

Giddy with excitement, Naruto slashed his blade, "I want to go to Karakura Town." The portal opened, and closed on Naruto's orders. "I want to go to Soul Society." It worked too. "I want to go to Konoha." The portal opened and he was once again looking at the Hokage Monument. He felt tears in his eyes, "Thank you." Naruto whispered and jumped into the portal, embracing the squeeze of the transfer.

Scene Change: Chapter end.

AN: Back to Konoha. Wonder if any of you saw that coming...


	10. Tap Your Heels Thrice

AN: Another chapter. Much earlier this time.

Begin Chapter.

Naruto was roaming the streets of Konoha for the first time in three years. He felt like crying. Instead he grinned so wide his face hurt, taking in the new and familiar sights. He, of course, received a few odd looks.

He arrived at the Hokage Tower, simply staring up at the building. He wondered if Tsunade was awake grumbling over paperwork or if she was dead to the world drooling on her desk. He imagined Shizune coming in, sighing over Tsunade's drunken slumber, and removing the hidden stash of liquor before waking Tsunade. Naruto laughed at the imagined grumblings of his pseudo grandmother.

"Naruto?" The blond blinked, turning to the source of his name. He gasped upon seeing a woman, girl/teen with short pink hair dressed in red, pink, and black.

"S-Sakura?"

"My god! It is you!" Naruto was wrapped in a bone crushing hug. Almost crying, Naruto hugged her back. "I've missed you."

Naruto nodded against her shoulder, "Yeah."

"C'mon, Lord Hokage will want to see you." The blond nodded again as Sakura led him by the hand into the Hokage Tower.

"Wait, this isn't the way-Ugh!"

Scene Change.

Naruto woke up in a cell, weapons noticeably gone. The cell had a bed, upon which Naruto lay, and an open toilet. It was only eight by eight feet.

"Aw, damn it. Fell for that one hook, line, and sinker." Naruto sighed. "Guess there's nothing to do but wait. Damn."

And so Naruto waited. He didn't wait long. The guard must have been ordered to report his awakening. Tsunade herself arrived, Shizune at her side and two ANBU her silent guardians.

"Who are you?" She asked stiffly. Naruto figured this must've been hard for her.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he answered readily.

"Do you have any proof?"

"Uh," Naruto scratched his head imploringly, "My mother's Uzumaki Kushina and my father, Namikaze Minato, sealed the Kyuubi into me. Er, um, I became a genin when I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll which Mizuki tricked me into stealing. At least, I think that's what happened, been awhile since I thought about it.

"Um, let's see, uh, I was on a team with Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Hatake Kakashi. We…"

"Do you have any physical proof?"

Naruto closed his mouth to think, "Um," Finally he snapped his fingers with an idea. He shoved his hand into his shirt, not noticing all the ninja tensing. The blond pulled out Tsunade's necklace, shoving it forward to the blond Hokage. He grinned. Tsunade picked the necklace up, rolled it in her hands, and nodded to its authenticity.

"It's real," Naruto nodded, "But could have easily been stolen."

The young blond frowned, trying to come up with another piece of evidence, "Oh, got another one!" He lifted his shirt and gripped the bottom between his teeth. His hands came together in a simple seal to focus chakra. A seal appeared on his stomach. "See?" He asked, grinning through his shirt.

It was irrefutable proof that needed verification. "Call Kakashi or Jiraiya if you can find him. Do it quickly." Naruto dropped his shirt, contemplating tucking it in.

"So," the blond teen began, fingers twining along the hem of his clothing, "What's happened in the last few years? Did Sasuke escape to Oto?"

"You don't know?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"Nope."

"How?"

Naruto shrugged, "I haven't been around. So, what's been happening?"

Carefully, the Lord Hokage answered, "After you disappeared, Sasuke decided to stay in Konoha, was put on probation, but eventually proved loyal. Suna and Konoha are at war with Oto. Akatsuki is active, but still unknown." She paused here, waiting for a repsonse.

"You mean those weird guys in black cloaks with red clouds?"

Tsunade nodded, "Oh, okay. So, how is everyone? How many of them are still genin?"

"None."

"What? No way! I'm the only one still a genin!"

"We assumed you were dead."

"What? Why?"

"We first assumed you defected, but after no word of a ninja matching your abilities or even hints that you were living somewhere, it was decided the Kyuubi's chakra destroyed your body, leaving no evidence. Traitor or dead, we picked the one that wouldn't waste manpower."

"Oh, right." Naruto scratched the back of his neck, grinning fakely.

"So, where have you been? Frozen in time?" Tsunade was the only one who laughed.

"Uh, that's the foxes' fault, and I guess mine too."

" I don't understand."

"Heh. I wasn't beating enough sense into Sasuke."

"You mean you were losing," one of the ANBU stated quietly, arrogantly.

"Meh," the blond swished his hand as if to wave that issue aside, "Details, who needs 'em? So, anyway, I wasn't beating enough sense into Sasuke so I demanded more chakra from the fox. I guess I pissed him off because he gave me enough of his chakra to send me into a dimensional rift… or something like that."

"So you haven't even been in this world?" Tsunade asked skeptically.

"Yup."

"Right…"

"Its true," Jiraiya swaggered in, "I checked. Now show me your seal." Naruto obeyed. The old man took a moment to study the flesh of Naruto's abdomen. "Hmm, its definitely the same seal. Minato's chakra still lingers to hold it together. However, see this here?"

"No."

"Exactly, this is the part of the seal that would have held Kyuubi's chakra back behind the bars with the fox if it had been there."

"So, the fox is free?" Shizune asked, slightly pale.

"Oddly no," the old man answered confidently, "This part of the seal is still in working order, meaning that the Kyuubi's soul is very much sealed, its power just belongs to Naruto now. The question then, where exactly is that power."

"Oh, that's easy. Its in my sword."

"That would explain the crippling pain it caused to anybody who touched it." Tsunade commented plainly.

"Really? I never noticed that."

Jiraiya nodded, "No, you probably wouldn't."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothing, nothing." Jiraiya replied innocently. "You haven't changed much have you?"

"Like you would know," Naruto muttered. "Sorry," he apologized moments later, "Emo moment."

"Emo?"

"Oh, uh," the blond began awkwardly, "Uh, culture thing from where I've been."

"…Right."

"So, you gonna let me out yet?"

Tsunade nodded to the ANBU and they stepped back and pretended to disappear. Naruto knew they were still there, able to sense the two ninja. The Hokage unlocked the cell, subtlety tense for a sudden attack, and Naruto hopped out, grinning.

"Thanks, it was cramped in there." With a bit of concentration, Naruto's weapons appeared, sheathed in their proper place.

The ANBU reappeared, swords poised and read, "Naruto."

"Yeah?" The blond responded, absentmindedly counting his kunai.

"Could you have done that at any time?" Tsunade asked slowly, a twitch forming at her eyebrow.

"Done what?"

"Summoned your weapons."

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"And why didn't you do it earlier?" The blond Hokage whispered, teeth almost audibly grinding.

"Well, I was waiting for you to let me out." Tsunade slapped a palm to her forehead, "Hey, how long has it been since I've been here?"

"About five hours," Shizune replied after checking the time.

"Shit, really? I have to go." Using the flash step, Naruto disappeared, later cutting a portal back to Hueco Mundo.

Scene Change.

It was too easy, Naruto decided, to lose track of time in Hueco Mundo. Naruto decided that because he had no idea how long he'd been there. But, he knew that he'd finally beaten one of the weaker espada (probably one of the weakest) in a spar in which Aizen had given him permission to go all out in. He would have been exhausted if he hadn't ate the hollow. Still, apparently Aizen was impressed because the blond was given the day off despite being fully energized.

Naruto didn't know what Aizen expected him to do (probably train) but Naruto had other plans. He was going to return to Konoha because he hadn't been there since his first visit. He was looking forward to seeing everyone.

Grinning, he opened the portal, jumping through without looking back. He, of course, arrived unnoticed, whistling a happy tune (one from his favorite band) as if he was just another person in the crowd. His first stop would be Ichiraku Ramen as the blond had neglected it before.

Naruto was merry, full of cheer and warm feeling for his childhood home, especially with the prospect of the food of the gods on the brain. "Hey, old man!" the blond exclaimed happily upon seeing the familiar face of the proprietor, "Gimme a bowl of miso!" Naruto sat, tunnel visioned on the chef.

"Right awa…" the words died on the old man's lips, "Naruto?"

The blond grinned, "Yup. How's it been?"

"Wh-where-How- Is that really you?"

"Yup."

"Where have you been?"

Naruto grinned, "In a galaxy far, far away."

"What the hell does that mean?" a male voice barked. Naruto turned and saw three teens. The one who spoke had shaggy, wild hair and red triangle cheek tattoos, wearing all black. He was grinning cockily, one hand on the head of a massive dog. A girl with long dark hair and a shy, soft face sat at his side. Her blind white eyes were pointed to the floor, her two index fingers coming together in front of her chest. On the dog boy's other side was another boy with dark, spiky hair, tinted glasses, and covered from mid-calf to nose in black with a green coat thrown over it.

Naruto recognized them immediately and his face lit up with surprise and delight, "Kiba, Hinata, and Shino! Hey!" They didn't respond, remaining suspicious of his dead, familiar face. "How's it been? Hey old man, have you gotten slow in your old age, eh?"

"Oh, uh, right away."

Naruto grinned and turned back to his three friends, but they were gone. He shrugged, "Oh well, must've had a mission."

There was a loud bang, and Naruto's gazed popped up. He grinned, "Hey, Ayame!"

"N-Naruto?"

"Yup! That's me! Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it!"

"What happened to you?"

"Some guy decided to be an evil bastard and send me away with no way to get back."

"Then how'd you get back?" she asked, picking up her dropped items robotically, eyes locked thoroughly on the blond.

"Bastard underestimated me!"

The old man, Teuchi, laughed, setting down a steaming bowl full of ramen, "Don't they always?"

Naruto shrugged, happily digging into his food of the gods. "Aw, perfection."

"I see you've returned, Naruto," Tsunade's voice called from behind the teen. Naruto slurped up the rest of his broth and turned to the woman. Shino, Kiba, and Hinata stood behind her. "I guess your horrible taste in food hasn't changed."

"Oi! This is a divine gift. We should feel exuberant for the mere thought that the gods would deign to give us lowly mortals even a glimpse of this delectable treat!" Naruto's eyes sparkled with the truth of his speech.

"Wow. Your vocabulary has certainly improved," Tsunade commented dryly. "Please accompany me to my office."

"Okay." The blond teen agreed easily, pulling some money from an inside pocket of his outfit. He set it down on the counter. "Here."

"What is this?"

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched together, "Money."

"Uh huh," Tsunade began, snatching the 'money' from the ramen stand owner and pulling real money from a pouch. "This is money," she said, holding up her paper money, "And this is just pretty paper."

"Oh, oops, sorry." Naruto took his pretty paper back. "I don't have any money, then."

"Don't worry, its on the house."

"Thanks, old man!"

Scene Change.

"So, what are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, sitting securely behind her desk, ANBU hidden in the corners of the room, Naruto in a chair on the opposite side of the Hokage's desk, and Team Eight behind him. Naruto took the time to wave at the invisible ninja, grinning cheekily.

Naruto shrugged upon turning his attention back to his fellow blond, "Just visiting."

"Really? Do you have any plans of becoming a ninja again?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" The Hokage deadpanned.

The blond ran a finger over the handle of the dagger attached to his side, "I'm still alive, so maybe there's a chance. I suppose its possible."

"What's holding you back from it now?" The Hokage asked, eying the boy carefully.

"I'm on a mission." he answered vaguely.

"And what is this mission, "Tsunade asked with all the authority her position held.

"Classified."

"Classified? From the Hokage?" Tsunade exclaimed, slightly angry.

"The order came from a," Naruto paused, thinking of the King's position, "person more powerful than you."

"More powerful?"

"Yeah," a half-smirk rolled onto his face, "You could almost say he was divine." That, Tsunade thought, was a new expression for the blond. Three years gone, he's has to change somehow, the woman reasoned. "So, can I see how everyone's doing. I think I still have a few hours left."

"Right," Tsunade murmured slowly, "Team Eight will show you around."

Naruto grinned, "Thanks!"

Scene Change.

That was the last visit Naruto had before Aizen pushed up his training to the point where even he couldn't recover fast enough. By the time Naruto did heal, there wouldn't be enough time to visit realistically. It made Naruto sad knowing that he'd finally been reunited with his friends, but unable to return to them.

Still, ignoring that, Naruto could easily feel the effects of the training or life or death situations Aizen ordered the blond through. Naruto was steadily, if not drastically, getting stronger. It was, the blond admitted, a bit of a bittersweet feeling, getting stronger, but doing it in the wrong place with the wrong people.

Three knocks and the door opened. That was the extent of the respect shown to Naruto, "Uzumaki, Lord Aizen request your presence." The blond nodded, ignoring the weak arrancar. Request meant order to Aizen; using the word 'request' was just a formal politeness that gave way to illusion, for it was delusional to think anything else.

His pace to Aizen was quick, but steady. He wasn't expected to run, but nor should he dally. There were rules to follow, and they must always be followed. Unfortunately, few, if any , of the rules were written down, being purely a trial and error set of rules.

One of these rules was silently entering the throne room and kneeling before the man. Naruto did this, now, keeping his eyes to the floor, never looking around. He waited for Aizen to address him.

"Rise, Naruto." The blond stood, taking this time to take in his surroundings. He held back a gasp upon seeing Inoue Orihime. His face remained frozen. Aizen smirked. "I see you recognize our new guest. " Naruto nodded, slowly. "I am tasking you to guard her."

The blond easily understood what this was. It was a test of loyalty. Again. "I see."

"Do you accept?"

Naruto looked at Orihime, and nodded, "I do."

"Excellent."

"Come, Inoue. I take my leave, my lord." Orihime followed the blond out of the room.

When they were gone, the arrancar Ulquiorra stepped from the shadows. "Watch them, Ulquiorra."

"Of course," the arrancar answered monotonically.

Scene Change.

"Naruto?"

"Woman."

"Why are you here?" Orihime asked, an anxious scrunch to her eyebrows. "What about-"

"I live to serve." Naruto quickened his pace.

"What?"

"I live to serve. Now, hurry up, woman."

"But-" Naruto, with a scowl, grabbed the teen and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He turned sharply and entered a room, drawing the sword the moment the door closed behind him. Orihime gasped, suddenly fearful. The sword slashed the air and a portal opened into which Naruto jumped.

Scene Change.

"I believe I gave you an assignment." Aizen said, smiling kindly. Ulquiorra kneeled under the pressure of the man's spiritual energy.

"Indeed," the arrancar replied stoically.

"Hence, I ask, why are you here?"

"The target disappeared."

"Explain." The man wasn't even pretending to smile anymore.

"I tracked Uzumaki and the girl to Uzumaki's quarters. There was a burst of energy and I felt something unexplainable and then all the energy disappeared.

Aizen smirked, though darkness was portrayed in the set of his brows, "Explain the unexplainable."

Ulquiorra nodded, slowly, "It felt like life, energetic and bursting, but also with the edges of death. It felt draining."

"Hmm… Aizen gazed upon the arrancar, "Await dear Naruto's return."

"And if he doesn't return?"

"I will call for you when I need you."

Chapter End.

AN: Well, even I admit that was kind of boring. Oh well. Please review, they make me happy, even if they tell me how much I suck.


	11. You Should Run When Things Go Boom

AN: Crap, how longs it been? Too long, probably, especially cause I've had this typed up for months. Is it bad when you don't even have the motivation to upload a chapter you've already typed? Probably.

Anyway, enjoy if you're still interesting in reading this story.

Scene Change: Chapter Start

Yoroichi was pacing, in human form, as four males and a girl watched her. She ignored them, thinking too furiously to even murmur unintelligibly.

Ichigo leaned over to Kisuke, trying to remain unnoticed by the catty woman, "What's got her so worked up."

Kisuke turned to the dark-skinned woman, watching the unintentional angry sway of her hips, "I think it has to do with Aizen's plans for Orihime, and Naruto."

The teen's scowl returned full blast at both the name of the traitor and his kidnapped friend, "Che, I bet Naruto was behind it. Traitor."

Tatsuki glared, helplessly angry.

"What are you thinking about, Yoroichi?" Kisuke asked delicately.

Yoroichi stopped and sat with a huff at the round table, taking, instead, to tapping her nails against the lacquered wood. Finally, she revealed the tip of her deep thoughts. "For someone who was planning to betray us," she said slowly, "Naruto told us a lot about himself."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" Ichigo asked harshly.

"Everything, nothing. I don't know! That's what I'm trying to figure out!"

"So, what exactly is nagging you?" Kisuke implored cautiously.

The woman frowned, scraping nails against the table, "He told us," she began, quicker-paced, "that he had the great nine-tailed fox sealed within him."

Kisuke gasped, suddenly pale, "Does he…"

"Control even a bit of the foxes' power? I think he has all of it, and more."

A bit slack faced, the blond man leaned back, "Does that mean he has access to the key?"

Yoroichi scowled, "I'm not sure. I think he does, his sword, the physical embodiment of the beast's power, had a key at the end, but that doesn't necessarily mean he can dimension hop."

"Do you think Aizen knows?" Kisuke worried subtly.

"Now that I'm relatively sure about," Yoroichi stated, a slight smirk curling her lips. "No, Aizen doesn't know, he wouldn't have had Orihime kidnapped otherwise."

"How can you be so sure?" Sado asked quietly.

"Everything Aizen has been doing is in preparation of making a key to another dimension and amassing an army. If he knew that Naruto had the ability to do what all that work would do anyway? He would have no other business here."

"If Naruto hasn't told Aizen, does that mean he didn't really betray us?" Tatsuki spoke up, hopeful.

Yoroichi looked upon the girl with pity, "No, it just means that Naruto is not privy to Aizen's plans, which is likely since he's already a traitor, or Naruto himself doesn't know that he even might have the ability."

"Oh. Right."

"We need to report this to Soul Society. This is vitally important to them and our King."

"King?" Uryuu asked, surprised to not know something about his hated enemy.

"Ah, some captains think they've figured out Aizen's plot: to assassinate the King Shinigami and take his place as a god."

"No, not that, what's this about a King Shinigami?"

"Oh, right. That's something soul reapers learn about at the academy." Kisuke straightened, ready to lecture, while Yoroichi stood. "When the world was created, a being known simply as Shinigami was born with it. He existed as a singly entity. It is said that, because he was lonely, he split off a piece of his self. This became humanity and humanity thrived as it spread and conquered and died. Humans were prone to evil, however, but capable of good. So, the Shinigami created a paradise for those that remained good and reabsorbed those who had become corrupt into his being.

"All powerful as he was, the Shinigami easily became overwhelmed by the writhing mass that humanity had become and how quickly they died off and multiplied. To handle this, the Shinigami did two things. Firstly, he created Hell, a place where evil souls would be purified and returned into the energy of the world. Secondly, he went into the paradies he had created, and trained a select few to use the power that had been embedded in their souls since the beginning of humanity. With their help, he sent pure souls to the paradies and the corrupt souls to hell.

"Still, even with the influx of caring, working hands, souls who lingered, as was natural then, were overlooked. These souls often became what is now known as hollows. Hollows derive their power, like soul reapers, from the power originally bestowed upon humanity by the Shinigami. For the Shinigami is both light, and darkness."

"So that is the soul reaper creation myth, eh?" Uryuu asked, smirking at the consternation that appeared on both soul reaper's faces.

"That is how we have recorded history, yes." Kisuke replied tightly. "And it is truth."

"It doesn't account for Quincy, so it must be wrong. Typical of soul reapers." Uryuu laughed arrogantly.

"I believe," Kisuke smiled, "That human science accounts for that under the proven theory of mutation."

Blushing, and looking properly chastised, Uryuu turned away. Kisuke smirked.

"What's this got to do with Naruto?" Tatsuki demanded, clearly dwelling on different thoughts than the rest of the group, hand resting carelessly on her abdomen.

Kisuke delivered upon the young female a piercing glare, understanding Yoroichi's pity, before shrugging, "Probably? Absolutely nothing. In all likelihood, Aizen will send his lackey's in to confront the King Shinigami like cannon fodder to weaken him. Naruto is a lackey."

"So," Tastsuki said tightly through clenched jaw and watery eyes, "Naruto's going to die?"

The blond man lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug, "Probably. By Aizen's doings or that of Aizen's enemy, us."

"I see," she nodded and left.

"Well… That was depressing."

Scene Change

Orihime gasped as she looked around. She was surrounded by people and unfamiliar buildings. She saw the ninja's leaping across the low roofs and the children playing in the streets. She breathed in the air, fresh and pollution free. Her lungs hugged and gripped the freshest air they had ever known.

"Where are we?"

Naruto grinned, watching her subconsciously taking deep, long breaths, "This is where I grew up, the village hidden in the leaves, Konoha."

"Wow," she breathed, "Its beautiful."

"Yeah."

Several ninja appeared before the two teens, "Lord Hokage request your presence."

"Right." Naruto threw Orihime back over his shoulder and jumped off after the escorting ninja. Orihime yelped at the sudden rush.

Naruto's only announcement as he arrived in Tsunade's office was, "Yo, Grandma!" with a cheeky wave. He let Orihime down. She swayed on her feet. "Whatcha need?"

"Gaara has been kidnapped."

"Gaara?"

"Yes. I've already sent the team out, but since you're here I figure you could go. Head in Suna's direction. If that fails, well, good luck."

"Right. Can Orihime stay here? Safe?"

Tsunade looked at the teenager's short skirt and unguarded stance and realized she was from the other world. She grinned, "Sure, of course she can stay with me."

Naruto nodded, serious, and used flash step to leave. He was quite adept at it now, and he was soon on his way to Suna.

"So," Tsunade began, turning to Orihime, "Where are you from?"

"Karakura Town in Japan," Orihime said with a smile.

"Oh, Japan, eh?" Tsunade totally didn't recognize either name. "So, how do you know Naruto?"

"Tatsuki told me his dad signed him up for karate and him and Tatsuki became friends. Tatsuki introduced him to me."

"His father?"

"Yup," Orihime replied happily. "Mr. Namikaze is quite funny and nice."

"Really?" The Hokage asked, hiding her severe interest in this topic like the ninja she was. "What does he look like. Maybe I know him."

He kind of looks like Naruto, except taller and without the weird face marks."

"Ah, yes. I know of him. He used to be the leader of this village, before me."

"Oh, wow. I would have never guessed that."

"So, tell me about Naruto. And Tatsuki."

"Well…"

Scene Change

Naruto quickly came up to and passed the teams sent out by Konoha. They were fighting and none of the combatants noticed his presence. That was fine, he was in a hurry. He had felt an influx of demon chakra and assumed it was Gaara. He was heading straight for the source.

The journey seemed to take forever, only made a bit faster by Naruto's endurance and sheer determination. Nothing would stop the blond, nothing (he suddenly collapsed) except that. Damn. He'd been running non-stop and hadn't thought it would affect him this badly. Naruto grimaced as he pulled his body against a boulder. He was so close too, but he needed to rest, or he'd be useless.

Hopefully it wouldn't take long. Naruto closed his eyes.

Scene Change

Naruto's eyes snapped open. Gaara's chakra was gone and the Konoha group had scattered. What was happening? The blond stood, body good as new but mind in turmoil. Naruto concentrated. Gaara may be dead, and therefore no longer had chakra, but even in death, there was an energy he would have that Naruto could find.

There! Naruto knew where Gaara was and he was moving. The blond grinned and charged off, straight for the source. Soon, in the distance, Naruto spotted Gaara. He was flying through the air, connected to a chain that was coming from the mouth of a giant bird. The red-head was sitting cross-legged, stoically watching as he was taken further and further away from those who would try to rescue him.

Naruto jumped, concentrating reiatsu to his feet in a technique he knew as walking on air. He ran to catch up with Gaara's soul.

"Yo, Gaara." the blond said upon catching up, now running at a steady pace.

"Uzumaki Naruto, so you are dead."

"That's what you say the moment you see me running on air? Air!" Naruto shook his head, "Oh, and no, I'm not dead."

"Then where have you been? How can you see me?"

"Still nothing on the fact I'm running on nothing!" He grumbled. "Che, I've just been gone." Gaara stared at him. "And I can see you 'cause I trained myself to see dead people so I can honestly say in a creepy voice: I see dead people. Do you?"

"Hmm."

"Do you enjoy talking to yourself, yeah?" Both souls glanced up to see the bird turn around and stop in mid air. Naruto skidded to a halt, Gaara gently easing to stillness next to him. Upon the bird, apparently it was clay Naruto noted, stood a blond girly-man Akatsuki member. "Hello, Uzumaki Naruto. I'd been told you'd returned, yeah."

"Nothing about the fact I'm standing on freakin' air!" Naruto muttered angrily before unsheathing his sword, pouting just the slightest bit, "Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Deidara and I can't let you escape, yeah." The bird slowly began to descend.

Naruto glanced at Gaara, who began to descend with the bird, and grinned, "I don't think you have much choice."

"Careful Uzumaki, he beat me."

Naruto smirked lazily down at the descending red-head, "You make that sound like such an accomplishment." Gaara bristled at this; to suggest he was weak! The man frowned. "This girl fag's got nothing on me!" Naruto dropped to the ground at the same time the bird touched down. He was grinning cockily.

"I'd heard you were a braggart." Deidara snapped, reaching into a pouch at his side, "But once you see my art, you'll be left speechless, yeah."

A much smaller clay bird fluttered between the two blonde's. Naruto stared at it, feeling its chakra. "Oh, shit." The younger blond kicked Gaara's soul away, the chain yanking defiance. Gaara screamed, a hole peaking narrowly from his chest. "Double shit!" And the bird exploded. Debris rained down.

"Ha! You missed!"

"Did I, yeah?"

"Wha-Argh!" An explosion at his stomach and upper back forced the blond to the ground. He remained still.

"That was anticlimactic, yeah." Gaara nodded quietly. "He didn't even get to experience the full beauty that is my art, yeah."

Then Naruto coughed, black smoke spilling from his lungs. "Ow, that kind of stung."

"Impossible, no human could withstand that!"

Naruto stood, his cloak mending as he swung his sword, "I'm not quite human anymore, bitch! Kyuubi no Kitsune: Two Tails!" Bloody raging power burst from the blade, wrapping around Naruto and wriggling around him in writhing tendrils. Naruto's eyes dyed crimson and animalistic, the marks on his cheeks widened and twisted. His body twitched and bulged and collapsed in anxious anticipation. The blond, whose hair was now raggedly wild, grinned sadistically to reveal lengthened, sharpened canines. "You remember Kyuubi, right? He'd like to say hello, but he can't come to the phone right now; he's been grounded forever!"

A roar ripped through his throat and Naruto charged his fellow blond, momentarily faster than Deidara's well trained eye could follow. But, Deidara was by no means weak and he quickly adjusted to Naruto's new speed. The demon container's sword whizzed by Deidara's dodging neck. An explosion proceeded the Akatsuki member's retreat. Naruto jumped back.

Clay spiders began swarming. Naruto blasted them with Kyuubi's chakra. They exploded painfully, sending the younger blond flying back. He rolled along the ground, gritting his teeth, before digging his fingers into the ground, bringing his momentum to a halt. He leaped to his feet, dirty and angry. Naruto charged.

Naruto's shoulder exploded with a spray of blood and sent him veering off course. His arm hung limply at his side, but that didn't stop his determined route at Deidara. Naruto's mouth was set in a deadly snarl.

"Do you see it? This wondrous beauty that is my art, yeah?" Deidara exclaimed, spreading his arms as hail of clay birds rammed into younger combatant. They exploded on contact and Naruto roared his pain, feet buried in the ground in an attempt to halt his backward motion. There were skid marks.

"Do I see it?" Naruto asked raggedly, face splattered with his own blood and dirt. His outfit was gone from the waist up save the fabric that held his broadsword's sheath to his body. "Do I see it?" The blond ripped the sheath from his back. His torso was bloody and dirty and pebbles were embedded in his flesh. Both his arms were functional again. "I don't see anything but a bunch of dirty, _ugly_ explosions!"

It was Deidara's turn to snarl. The giant bird dropped its load, that being Gaara's dead body, and flew quickly to its master's side. The mouth's on Deidara's hand made quick work of the bird. "I'll just make sure you die, then, yeah!"

Naruto quickly found himself the center of mass of explosions, and it hurt, bad. It took all of Kyuubi's currently released power to heal the wounds only for more to be reopened. Naruto attempted to get away, jump to the left or right, or up. He even tried to go underground. The explosive clay always found him. So he curled up an took the brunt of it.

Finally, the bombardment ceased. Deidara was panting and Naruto was a mass of smoking, charred flesh. The smell that accompanies burning humans was strong and heavy in the air, sickening. His skin slid off his body as he stood. It hurt something awful, agonizing in its ferocity, but it was a pain Naruto was just barely able to tolerate. The only thing he could really think through the torture, however, was: "Kill."

Naruto didn't look human anymore.

Both Gaara and Deidara stared slack-jawed, amazed that he was even alive, let alone able to stand and breathe and move without screaming his lungs out. Deidara shuddered at the skinless creature that stood before him, sword still clutched in one hand and clothes so completely in tatters it was amazing they held to his body.

"Kill." Naruto rasped, sounding like the personification of death. "Kill." Red-chakra licked his skinless flesh and the two onlookers watched, horrified and fascinated, as the skin slowly grew back. Abdomen first, a glowing red seal glowing even in the muscles. The skin spread up and down and to the sides. The skull was the last to be covered and though Gaara didn't know it yet, that forever grinning face with wide, lidless red-eyes would haunt him forever.

For a moment, Naruto was bald and practically naked, as frozen to the spot as his opponent and Gaara were frozen to theirs. The pain was almost gone now, merely an aching shadow of its previous torment. Still, even with thought process returned, he only wanted one thing: to kill.

"Uzumaki!" Gaara yelled stoically, hiding the chill he felt at seeing the results of a human having all their skin burned off and then have everything regrow: hair, skin, some muscle, eyelids... everything.

"What?" the young blond snarled, lunging at his still awestruck opponent.

"They're coming!" Gaara ducked from a hastily made explosion.

"Who? Rargh! Fight like man, pretty boy! Stop running away!" Naruto roared in animalistic fury

"Your allies!"

"My allies?" Naruto snarled, flipping backwards only to be the center of an small explosion. He coughed, sneering at his opponent, angry. "Che, you mean the ninja from Konoha."

"Correct."

Naruto grinned darkly, sadistically, "Alright, I got this bitch." The young blond pulled out his dagger. "I've never used this on a human before. I wonder what will happen. Kyuubi no Kitsune: Three Tails! Speed!" The burst of power following that proclamation gathered around his legs. The muscles of his thighs expanded as he charged forward with an incredible speed increase. Deidara only had a moment to dodge, but surprise and a last ditch effort at a clay explosion took it away. The dagger slashed across, through, his neck. It sliced not flesh from bone, but soul from flesh. Naruto's shoulder was smoking but unharmed.

The Akatsuki member's body fell, no distinguishable fatal injury upon it. Unlike Gaara, Deidara's soul was wispy, translucent. "What-What happened?" Soul-Deidara murmured, voice sounding like a far off echo.

Naruto stood in front of the man's worried soul, eyes glowing crimson as red chakra whipped and writhed around him, "Itadakimasu." Deidara's startled gasp was the last thing the world heard from the man before Naruto ate him. "Kyuubi no Kitsune: Seal." The red chakra drained away and Naruto sheathed both his weapons, suddenly pensive and incredibly tired.

Gaara stared at Naruto apathetically, on hand holding one the chain loosely, "What have you become, Uzumaki?"

Naruto bit his lip, eyes forlorn and pointing away from the red-head, "What indeed."

"Lord Kazekage!" An old lady exclaimed, rushing to Gaara's limp, dead body. Naruto stepped beside her, watching her calculate over the red-head. Gaara's soul self stood next to the blond.

"Naruto?" Another female voice exclaimed. Naruto looked up to see that Sakura had spoken. Behind her, Kakashi and Sasuke stood silently, both looking like they had gone through a mine field. "What are you doing here?"

"Tsunade told me to come," Naruto said, scratching his nose with a weak grin, glancing at Deidara, then to Gaara, and then to Gaara's body. He nodded at the red-head's body. Gaara nodded back and let Naruto grab him. "Okay, try not to move," he whispered, pulling out his dagger. Gaara stared at it pensively. "Trust me, okay?"

"I do."

"Good. This might hurt, probably." The red-head nodded and Naruto stabbed him in the center of his soul-chest. Gaara cried out, jade eyes wide as Naruto pulled out the knife. Then the blond kneeled, placing the tip of the blade in the same spot on Gaara's body.

"Naruto, what are you-" Naruto's knife sunk easily into Gaara's flesh and Gaara gasped, followed by everyone but Naruto and the dead Deidara.

Naruto stood, sheathing the blade, a cold look on his face. "Good luck, Gaara, don't die again." Gaara nodded. "I have to go now."

"Naruto-"

"Bye!"

"Thank you, Uzumaki."

Scene Change: Chapter End

AN: Well, that's that, I suppose.


	12. The Tool of Those Who Plot

Naruto used a more leisurely pace on the return trip to Konoha, resting on a tree branch once he reached Fire territory. Even with that, Naruto returned to Konoha before the original retrieval team.

He wasn't feeling any kind of polite upon entering the Hokage's office. Tsunade and Orihime were talking over sake and tea.

"So then he took his shirt off and posed, as if he wasn't being glared at by everyone. Then he said, "You're just jealous of this awesomeness," as if he hadn't just tripped over nothing, giving himself a bloody nose!" Orihime said, giggling. Tsunade nodded, smirking over at Naruto. He frowned, not in the mood.

"Orihime, it's time to go."

"But-"

"Now."

"Naruto, I need to talk to you," Tsunade stated seriously, setting down her sake saucer. "Orihime, please wait outside."

Naruto glanced at Orihime, who shuffled nervously, and nodded. She smiled and left. The young blond sat in her vacated chair. "What do you need?"

Tsunade settled back into her seat, "How was the mission?"

"I passed your retrieval team. They were fighting. They had it handled, so I moved on. After I rested, I confronted Deidara. We fought, I won, I left. Can I go now?"

"Irritable, aren't we?" Naruto glared, frowning harshly. "I was talking with Orihime."

"I could tell."

"Don't interrupt me! Now, Orihime told me you betrayed your friends. Is this true?"

"I'm leaving."

"Naruto!"

Naruto stood, glaring, "Don't act like you know anything, you don't. You don't."

"Naruto!"

The boy strode to the door, placing his hand upon it before turning back to the blond woman, "I'd like to come back, don't make that impossible." And he left.

Tsunade sat back, sighing, "That felt like those horror stories parents tell of their civilian teenage kids."

Scene Change

Naruto groaned, resting his head on the counter of the ramen stand. Orihime sat next to him, puzzled. "I shouldn't have taken you from Hueco Mundo. Ugh, Aizen's going to slaughter me!"

"Why'd you do it then?"

"Agh! I needed to talk to you in private!"

"About what?" Orihime asked, still utterly confused.

"Argh!" Naruto grabbed his hair, shaking his head. "I forgot. In all the commotion I don't remember jack shit about what I was going to say!"

"Here's your ramen, Naruto."

Naruto sighed and lifted his head, "Well, who can deny ramen? Maybe it'll help me remember."

"Um."

"Go on, Orihime. Dig in!" The moment of silence was only interrupted by Naruto's noisy slurping. It was almost content, save for Orihime's occasional worried glances at her blond friend.

Finally, she spoke, "I think Tatsuki might be pregnant."

The bowl fell from Naruto's hands, spilling hot broth and noodles on his crotch. His attention was split between dancing at the burning sensation in his groin and hacking on the noodles caught in his throat. "Wh-what?" The blond choked out, blue eyes wide and slightly watery. "What makes you say that?"

Orihime swirled the noodles with her chopsticks, glancing nervously at her companion, "Whenever someone mentions you she puts her hand on her belly and I've seen her looking worriedly at her calendar a couple times. When I asked her about it, she blushed, stuttered and changed the topic. Naruto, did you do _IT _with Tatsuki?"

Naruto blushed, stuttered, and slurped at his empty ramen bowl, "Wh-wh-what do you mean, Orihime? I don't know what you mean. Nope, no I don't. Not at all."

Orihime tilted her head at the blond idiot, "Naruto, I'm not stupid."

"No, no! Of course not! Heh heh! I think it's time to leave. Thanks for the meal, old man!"

Scene Change

"Naruto, welcome back," Aizen said magnanimously. Naruto nodded from his kneeling position. Orihime was safe in the somewhat gentle clutches of the arrancar Ulquiorra. "So, tell me, where have you been?"

Naruto gulped, not daring to even glance anywhere but the floor in front of him, let alone up at the King of Hueco Mundo. "In the elemental countries."

Of the questions Aizen could have spoken, he asked, "And how, exactly, did you get there?"

"I opened a portal there with my sword."

"Tell me," Aizen said, leaning forward, "Do you know how that works?"

"I have my theory, my Lord."

Aizen smirked, waving a hand casually in front of him. An ark of power slammed into the blonde's prone form. Naruto grunted quietly. "Do explain."

"This sword is the embodiment of Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon that was sealed into me on the day of my birth. I was told that the Kyuubi had the ability to move into different dimensions. I recently found out this sword has that ability."

"Really?" Aizen murmured rhetorically. Oh, he knew of that demon and its power over the very thing Aizen sought. To think, such power had been right under his nose the entire time, already in his grasp. Aizen smirked. He'd indeed made the right decision by recruiting this blond. "Tell me, what are these elemental countries?"

"They are what the main landmass of my home world is called. The individual countries make up the land. I am from the Land of Fire. In my visit, I traveled through the Land of Wind."

"I see." Aizen leaned back, wondering if these elemental countries were actually the land of the King Shinigami or just a hidden part of the human world. "What of the soul reapers there?"

"Uh," Naruto cursed himself for letting that slip, "I didn't see any soul reapers. But, I know that there is a shinigami. Two of the leaders of my village summoned it at different times. The Fourth Hokage summoned it to seal the demon in me. The Shinigami killed him. Then the Third Hokage summoned it to fight off an invasion of the enemy from succeeding in destroying our village. The Third died too. I heard the Shinigami was a large, spectral figure with long white hair and horns."

"Hmm. Interesting." It was definitely the King's realm. A key to the King's realm kneeled in front of him, willing to obey him, his every order. Aizen smirked nastily. Fabulous. "Rise, dear Naruto. Come here, come here."

Naruto stood slowly, hesitantly, and walked cautiously to Aizen's side. The man only smiled at him graciously. When Naruto was directly in front of the Aizen, he began to kneel. "No, no need for that." Naruto nodded, confused at this new face of Aizen. "May I see your sword."

The blond nodded slowly, retrieving it from its scabbard in puzzled silence, "My lord," Naruto began, holding the weapon handle first to Aizen, "If you touch it, it'll probably hurt."

Aizen smiled as he reached for the blade. The skin of Aizen's palm began to sizzle immediately, but he did not release the handle from his grasp. He could feel the power coursing through the weapon, fastened securely in the confines of steel. Smoke began rising from the burning flesh as Aizen offered the sword back to its owner. Naruto quickly sheathed the sword.

"You told me once that your childhood was full of torment, correct." Naruto frowned, but nodded. "Would I be right to presume that those dark times were the effect of the demon being sealed within you?"

"You would be correct, my Lord."

"Have you ever blamed anyone for sealing that terrible demon within you? Aizen asked softly, kind brown eyes appraising the blond in a fatherly fashion.

Naruto's jaw clenched, "The man who did it."

"Really, and what about the Shinigami?" Aizen's lips were dancing around a smirk.

Naruto blinked in surprise, "The Shinigami?"

"Yes, of course. Without the help of the Shinigami, the man, a mere human, couldn't possibly have had the power to seal away the might of a demon as legendary as the Kyuubi no Kitsune." Aizen clarified, smiling meaningfully.

"The Shinigami, eh?" Naruto frowned deeply, and his eyes flashed with resentment. "Damn him."

Aizen smirked victoriously. "I haven't told you of my plans in detail, have I, Naruto?" Naruto glanced up, surprised, as Aizen stood, resting a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Come, come. Oh, Ulquiorra, please ensure the intruders are handled and that Miss Inoue is situated nicely."

Scene Change

The room was dark in a mysterious way. Both occupants could see clearly and said nothing about the mysterious mood set by the lighting. The walls were white, pristine, and bare. The furniture, sparse, but opulent and dark to contrast the walls and blend in with the dusk.

Both occupants were men in white, loose clothing. In their hand were cradled mugs of a soothing beverage, of a bonding beverage. The larger man smiled serenely at his blond companion, his brown eyes sharp and commanding. The blond man, on the other hand, stared blankly at his mug, mind alert and cautious.

"Naruto," Aizen spoke softly. Naruto lifted his gaze to the man, his leader, his current master. His blue eyes burned brightly in the darkness, like headlights, pinned on Aizen. "Please, speak freely."

Naruto gazed long and hard at the man, at the monster that hides behind that friendly face.

"What do you need of me?" He finally enquired, slowly, carefully.

Aizen's smirk grew, not in size, but intent, "And what makes you think I want anything from you?"

Naruto frowned minutely, staring suspiciously at his master, "You have never asked me here before, never talked personally with me. I can only assume you want something from me, or I'm going to die and you're pretending that is not so."

The man chuckled. The sound was slow and deep. "At times, dear Naruto, you act stupid. I've seen it, mostly before you came here. But, clearly, clearly, you are not." Naruto remained silent, "However, I've decided to tell you my plan."

Naruto's eyebrows rose in surprise, "Really?" he blurted out before his mind could catch up to his mouth.

Aizen nodded benignly, "Can I trust you?" The man stared the blond down. "I don't want to have to deal with betrayal."

Naruto gulped quietly, "I won't betray my Lord."

"I know," Aizen replied, smirking. He took an eloquent gulp from his mug. "I told you I planned to change the world." Naruto nodded. "There's a power, a position I need to do this. The position of the King of all Shinigami. To do this, I must defeat the King."

Naruto gasped, "But he's a god!"

"Yes, and I need the power of a god to change this corrupt world, to bring peace and prosperity to this world."

"Oh." Take down a god, a god! Naruto wouldn't have guessed, ever! Idly, he wondered how complex the man's plan was. To become a god…

"But, the King dwells in a world I cannot access. I'd already set a plan in motion to gain a door into the closed off world. Then, however, you told me of your fascinating ability, and all those plans, those detestable, long-drawn plans, needless!" Aizen leaned back, smiling in a calm eagerness. "You see Naruto, with you, we can skip forward, with you, we are better poised to revolutionize the world!

"So, Naruto, will you take hold of your sword, your blade, and raise it in my name, as a hero, as a warrior, and with it, change the world. Slice a door way into the future!"

Naruto sat up straight, a strange pride flickering in his rolling, sickened stomach. The man was charismatic. "Yes, sir!"

Aizen smirked, gazing contentedly at his servant, "Excellent. In the meanwhile, please continue training. Your strength will be needed."

"Right." Naruto gulped and bowed, "All Hail the King!"

Aizen sat back with a content leer.

Scene Change

Naruto was surprised, indeed, to see Orihime in his quarters. Knowing she was there, he was not so surprised to see Ulquiorra leaning against the wall, also in his room. Naruto nodded at the arrancar, the silent question obvious, and then sat next to Orihime on the singular piece of furniture, the bed.

He glanced at Ulquiorra as his nails picked at the rust flakes of dry blood. "Take care of her."

The blonde's eyebrows rose, "Even after I took her?"

"Yes. You are forbidden from taking her from Hueco Mundo. I've informed her of the rules. She knows her place. You just have to know yours. Your task is to keep her alive and keep her away from those that would take her."

"If she's so important, why don't you take care of her?" Naruto stared at the pale man, curious, but cold.

"She's not important." Ulquiorra stated bluntly, stoically. "At most, she is a useful tool and a tool must be in top condition to be the most useful. Do you understand, Uzumaki?"

Naruto scowled, feeling like he was being mocked, "Sure, I got it."

The arrancar stared a moment longer, apathetic to the cold ire oozing from the blond, then turned and left. Naruto continued glaring at the monster's retreating back.

"Do you really not want to take care of me?" Orihime questioned softly, hands idle in her lap.

Naruto turned to her, hostile look falling from his face as he ran a hand through his hair, "No, it's not that." He exhaled heavily, "I just don't like the guy."

The girl brightened somewhat at that, "Why?"

He shrugged, "He's just so cold, inhuman, heartless. Even the other hollows at least pretend to have more feeling than that monster!" Naruto stood suddenly, pacing.

"Why are you here?"

"What?"

"Well," Orhime began, a little matter-of-fact like, "You really don't belong here and I can tell you don't like it."

"Um."

"Naruto," Orhime said slowly, searchingly.

"No. Just no. I'm not doing this."

"But-"

"No!" And Naruto said no more, despite Orihime's pleas.

Scene Change

Naruto limped back into his room, bleeding profusely. There was now a bed for Orihime and a table at which she took her meals. She wasn't in the room as he came in, but he knew she was locked in the adjoining bathroom.

With a loud groan, he collapsed onto his bed. It had been clean. It wasn't anymore. He blinked away the stars that resulted from the renewed pain contact with his bed created. "Fuck, man…" There was a hole in his shoulder, still bleeding. One of his eyes was missing and he was covered in small to minor wounds.

Orihime's arrival was punctuated with a gasp. She rushed to Naruto's side, "What happened? Are you okay?"

Naruto lifted his good arm, "I'm good." Orihime reached for her hair pieces anyway. "No, don't. This is nothing. It'll heal in no time."

"But-"

"I'm your enemy. You don't heal your enemy."

Orihime bit her lip, still unsure.

Then the door burst open and both occupants turned to the figure, surprised. The figure was completely covered in a beige cloak. Naruto sat up quickly, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. A deep, half-healed wound opened up on his abdomen, soaking his white clothing.

Naruto cursed, both because of his wound and because he hadn't sensed this intruder, "Who are you?"

"Naruto."

The blonde's face broke momentarily, "Tatsuki."

The intruder took in Naruto's form and did not move. "Tatsuki?" Orhime murmured, glancing between her two companions.

Naruto grabbed the sword that had previously been leaning against his bed and stood unsteadily. Visibly, the blond clenched his jaw and fought the urge to look away. He pulled the coppery blade half-way from its sheathe. "Kyuubi no Kitsune: Force Heal." Bloody red chakra oozed from the metal of the sword and slipped across Naruto's skin. His body twisted, face tightening as the crimson energy boiled across his flesh, rapidly and disgustingly healing wounds. His destroyed eyeball bubbled out of its socket as a new one bulged forward, the iris as bloody a red as the healing, burning energy.

Finally, the crude energy merely disappeared in small, smoky wisps and nothing, not even blood stains, remained of the wounds. Naruto's entire body twitched spastically and painfully as he grinned bitterly at his opponent, "Hello, Tatsuki."

"What did they do to you?" She whispered, horrified.

The eyelids of his new eye fluttered erratically, "Hmm. It's called training, Tatsuki. It's much more effective when I don't have to do that." This might have sounded mean if Naruto's voice wasn't so dead. Kyuubi's blade screeched against the floor as the arm holding it flailed violently. Naruto paid the uncontrolled movement no mind. "I'm curious though." He didn't sound it. "How did you get here?"

"Urahara opened a door way to let us in."

"Us? So you didn't come alone, then." Tatsuki cursed but said nothing else. "Hmm," Naruto closed his eyes, reaching out with his senses. "Ichigo is here, which means at least Sado is here. I can't sense anyone stronger than Ichigo so I don't think Soul Society sent an army. If that is so, then Orihime wasn't deemed important enough to rescue by Soul Society, and the people sent here are on a hopeless mission."

Naruto's eyes reopened, a steady, flat gaze on the intruder, "Sound about right, Tatsuki?" She glared. "The question remains: How did you get here undetected? But, I suppose Minato could have taught you." Naruto smirked, "Now please, do tell me why you're here."

"Why don't you guess," Tatsuki snarled harshly. "If you're so freaking smart!"

Naruto shrugged and grinned cruelly. "Perhaps you are here to betray your comrades and join me."

"Never," Tatsuki growled confidently.

"Tsk, tsk."

"Naruto?" Naruto and Tatsuki turned to Orihime. She withered under their combined cold and fiery gazes.

"Be quiet, woman." Orihime bowed her head submissively, lost and confused.

Tatsuki shook her head sadly, "You really have changed, haven't you, Naruto?"

Naruto sneered darkly, "or maybe you never knew me at all."

"No." It was an absolute word. "You've changed."

Naruto scoffed. The right side of his face twitched visibly.

"Goodbye, Naruto." And she disappeared, charging so fast at Orihime that it was like she teleported away. Unfortunately, Naruto was faster.

He blocked her path with his body, grabbing her wrist and holding her fist above her head. "I don't think so, little one."

Tatsuki growled, shoving her other fist forward. Naruto didn't let go, using the close proximity to head butt his opponent. She cried out and staggered away when he let go.

"Tsk, tsk." Tatsuki growled and then Naruto lurched forward, grabbing her neck tightly. She gasped and automatically reached to clutch at his hand.

Kyuubi's blade lifted into the air and Tatsuki froze in horror. Naruto grinned, the sword sliced down. The girl yelped. "Goodbye Tatsuki." He threw her away.

Naruto stood still for a moment before staggering over to his bed with a groan. He rubbed his cheeks and eyes as if they ached, "Ugh, that freakin' hurts!"

"Naruto?"

"Argh! Acting sucks! I hate doing that!"

"What?"

"Now I'm gonna be sore AND guilty!"

"Naruto!" Orihime said sharply. Naruto's gaze snapped to her, shocked.

"Wh-what?"

"What did you do with Tatsuki?"

"Oh," Naruto relaxed. "I sent her back to Karakura Town."

"Oh."

"Yeah, now leave me to my suffering."

Scene Change

The group skidded to a halt. They hadn't been talking, too focused on the spirit energy of a companion that wasn't there. That spirit energy had just disappeared.

Ichigo shifted nervously, finger grazing over the handle of his weapon, "Do you think she's…"

"Yes." Sado answered straightly.

"How far do you think she got?"

Uryuu shrugged, "Impossible to tell, but she got far enough." Ichigo and Sado nodded solemnly, silently mourning their friend. "Let's go."

"I'll kick their asses for sure now!"

Scene Change

It was painful. She was being jerked around, pulled and pushed, yanked and slammed. A wind, never ending and all consuming, buffeted her body like it was tenderizing meat. It was exhausting.

"Stop!" The voice echoed and rumbled through her body. It was strong and powerful and everywhere. It was obeyed and Tatsuki slammed hard into a marble floor.

She groaned and coughed and a light spray of blood coated the floor. Her cheek rested in her blood. She was so very, very tired.

"Welcome, my dear."

Tatsuki lifted her head to quickly lay her chin on the marble and raise her eyes to look at a far away and blurry man on a throne. It was an uncomfortable position, but she couldn't look away. She didn't attempt to croak an answer, though.

"I must admit," the indistinguishable man said pleasantly. "You were somewhat of a surprise." He laughed. "Not at the moment, of course, but when I first saw you in the future, and what the future would have been without you." The man laughed again, as if he was the funniest person to ever exist.

"Oh come now, stand up!" He continued jovially, waving his hand. Tatsuki's body lurched from the ground and was set on her feet as the pain faded away. There was a vague, deep ache in her limbs, her body, her head that told her the pain was not truly gone. And, the movement still made her nauseous. She wobbled and clutched her stomach. "Excellent."

"Ugh," she disagreed.

"You know, I don't normally do this, pull mortals into this realm, but when Naruto is concerned, it is the exception and not the rule." He chuckled warmly, "Yes, he will do well, won't he?

"I can see the future, you know, somewhat. Hardly ever a straight forward thing, the future, but with you here, it's now quite the solid picture," The man smirked, "A little liquidy around the edges, perhaps, but solid."

Tatsuki was thoroughly confused.

"You know, Naruto isn't a traitor, not really, so you were right about that, I suppose. He doesn't want to do what he is doing, but he's learned that doing right isn't always what's best. I'll admit that was somewhat my doing. Not entirely, of course, but it's something he'll need to know intimately."

Tatsuki was swaying on her feet, bleary and unsure.

"It's a lonely job, you know, and I must admit that's why I'm not entirely apprehensive in giving it up. Still… No, that's not important. The point of this conversation is that your life is mine. I saved it, because Naruto ignorantly put it in danger. He shouldn't have pushed you across worlds unprotected…

"Of course, in exchanged for your life I need you to swear your soul to Naruto. That's all you need to do."

"Wait! What?"

"Swear your soul to Uzumaki Naruto and live, or don't and die, or rather, live in eternal agony. It is, of course, entirely up to you." The man smirked.

"I-uh, er." Tatsuki bit her lip uncertainly. On one hand, it was Naruto; kind, sweet, goofy Naruto. On the other hand, Naruto wasn't that person anymore. Actually, on the biggest, most important hand, it was her soul, her essence, everything that she was and ever could be. Could she really just give it away?

Gods, she was so tired. Exhausted.

"Has Naruto really not changed?" She asked, blinking to clear the fuzz out of the edge of her vision.

"I never said that." When that did nothing to strengthen Tatsuki's resolve, the man continued, "He's still mostly unchanged, however, just more aware of the true evils of the world."

"Oh." Tatsuki blinked again. What were they talking about again? Her thoughts were beginning to feel sluggish and jumbled.

"I wouldn't suggest eternal torture, it's very… torturous."

If the situation wasn't so serious and her mind was working clearer, Tatsuki would have snorted. What was she supposed to do? "Oh, right, fine." She blinked again. "I swear my soul to Uzumaki Naruto. Happy, you ass?" Sleep. Why couldn't he just let her sleep?

"Excellent." Tatsuki frowned. "Worry not, though, you won't remember any of this until it's relevant."

"Huh?"

"Bye now."

"Wha- Ahh!" Tatsuki screamed as she was pushed backwards and disappeared.

Scene Change.

Tatsuki slammed harshly into dusty ground. The brunt of the impact was absorbed by her armor, but her body still ached thoroughly. She groaned and the armor fell away.

"Tatsuki?" A voice asked apprehensively, an edge of fear present. "What are you doing here?"

"Nn."

"Right. I'll fix you right up." Urahara Kisuke assured, lifting Tatsuki up and silently puzzling over her sudden and extremely unexpected arrival.


	13. The King of Hell is a Brat

AN: I am truly happy about most of the reviews I've received this last week. They were totally awesome. I honestly thought that since I'd let this story go for such a long time that I wouldn't get that many reviews. And while compared to some stories that have like hundreds of reviews per chapter, I didn't get that many. However, the quality of some of the reviews totally made up for that. I was totally, completely happy to have read them.

Thank you all very, very much. I hope I live up to all your expectations, but I'll settle for some of them.

Well, on to chapter thirteen. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter Start.

Yamamoto-Genryusai Shigekuni, captain of the first division and the leader of thirteen squads, waited patiently in the ceremonial chamber. He needed to speak to the King urgently. But they were separated by dimensions whose lock was far tighter and more extensive than the lock between Soul Society and the human realm.

And, he had no appointment, hence the waiting.

Yamamoto resisted the urge to yawn and stretch his old bones. The King would not be heard if the mind was not completely open and focused.

"Yamamoto," a warm voice, as if the speaker was speaking to a favored child, echoed through the room. The old man's back straightened as he recognized the voice of his King. He resisted the urge to bow to the empty chamber. "What need do you have of me and my word?"

The old man conceded to lowering his eyes, "I have troubling news in regards to the newest enemy of Soul Society."

"And why does this concern me? You have dealt with more threats to my paradise than I."

Yamamoto did not understand the subtle amusement in the disembodied voice but forged forward anyway, "We believe Aizen, the enemy, is coming after you, my King."

The King chuckled deeply, "This, too, causes me little concern. There are many safeguards preventing anyone from this set of worlds to reach me and mine. One of which is an unbreakable lock between here and there."

"One of those safeguards has been made meaningless."

King Shinigami didn't respond immediately, "How so?"

"I have received information that Aizen has in his possession an item that will allow transport between this world and yours."

"Hmm," a hum of power, a side effect of whatever spell the King was using, swept through around the old man. "This is so. Uzumaki Naruto has a sword that can cut doors through dimensional barriers and Aizen is aware that this is so. My first safeguard is meaningless."

The confirmation settled cold and heavy in Yamamoto's gut, "And what are we to do, my King?"

"I will give you your chance to fight." A burst of massive power slammed into the chamber before pulling tight and coalescing into a dark shape before the leader of the thirteen squads. Yamamoto hesitantly took the black handle of a scythe into his gnarled hands. It was long, taller than a man, with a deadly, silver blade a quarter of its length. The whole weapon radiated power. "This will be your key to my dimension." Awe greater than before tightened in the old man's chest. "But be warned, traveling without the protection of the scythe is deadly and so is the place where you will find yourself. Do not stay in my world longer than a day."

"Why?"

"You'll find out the moment you step foot in my world. Do not let go of the key while you are traveling between dimensions."

"Yes, my King."

"Then go. You only have as long as it takes this enemy to finalize his plans."

Scene Change

"Welcome Naruto," Aizen said kindly, ushering his blond subordinate into a private dining area. Naruto nodded in return silently, careful to keep his expression neutral to not reveal the unease roiling in his stomach. "Please sit."

Naruto sat slowly into the seat Aizen had gestured to. There were two chairs and a table in the brightly lit room. The table held a simple but fulfilling meal. Naruto's eyes swept across the food idly wondering if it had been poisoned before dismissing the thought. He instead focused on the fake blue sky the single window in the room revealed. Knowing that it was fake, that he was in a place of forever night, merely made him more homesick. The blond resisted the urge to sigh and turned back to stare at Aizen as the mysterious man settled easily into the only other chair in the room.

"Please enjoy," Aizen commanded. Naruto nodded and carefully began eating the provided meal. "I think we should take a trip today, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes jerked up to stare intently at his current master, "Do you mean…"

Aizen smirked widely, "Indeed."

The blond acknowledged this with a nod and nothing more, choosing instead to continue eating, forcing down the meal bite by bite. The food was rather tasteless now and stuck to the back of his throat.

But, despite that, the food was gone quickly and Aizen was standing, staring at Naruto expectantly. The blond set down his chopsticks, just so, and stood, lifting his sword from where it rested against his chair. Naruto took a deep breath. This is it.

"Where are we going?"

"The Realm of the Shinigami."

Naruto nodded solemnly and removed the double-edged, crimson blade from its sheathe. He paid no attention to Aizen's reaction, minute as it was. With a quick, calming breath as his only preparation, Naruto swung his sword through the air, repeating the name of the location Aizen wished to go.

With a rush of wind and sand, a portal opened up like a rip in the fabric of space. Aizen was clearly fascinated. Naruto tilted his head towards the portal, staring straight at the brown haired man. "Shall we?"

Aizen confidently stepped into the rift, a slow smirk stretching across his face. Naruto followed with a frown. Suddenly, Aizen grabbed onto the blond and they were on the other side, in the Realm of King Shinigami.

Naruto's eyes roamed the desert, squinting in the sun and the sand. Finally, the blonde's eyes settled on Aizen. The man had the appearance of having been thrown through a bladed windstorm. His white clothing was askew and ripped, hair a frightful mess, and chest rising in a quick, panicked pant. Naruto's eyebrows scrunched in confusion but he said nothing.

Finally, Aizen straightened his back, eyes flashing with barely restrained fury, "That was not pleasant."

Naruto tilted his head, confused, "What do you mean?"

Aizen slowly gestured to his haphazard appearance, "Where do you think this is from? That was a less than smooth transport."

"I don't understand. I've never had any trouble with it. It has always been instant." The blond seemed to realize he'd been worrying his lip and closing his eyes and fixed his facial expression to neutrality.

The leader of the Hollows stared sharply down at his subordinate. But he could judge from Naruto's unruffled appearance and genuine confusion that the blond was unaware of the painful experience Aizen had just had. Aizen nodded.

"If I had not grabbed onto to you, I'm not entirely sure I would have lived through the transport. Make sure when you are transporting the hollows that they all have a good grip on you."

"Yes, my Lord." Naruto responded solemnly, the implications of what Aizen went through reaching him. He'd sent Tatsuki through a portal unattended. Did she experience what Aizen did? Did she survive? Could she have survived? Did he inadvertently kill her? His throat tightened painfully. Oh God. Please no.

"Who are you? Identify yourselves." An unfamiliar voice announced suspiciously. Naruto shook himself from his morbid thoughts to take in the fact that he and Aizen were surrounded by a three man squad of sand ninja. Naruto cursed and Aizen reached for the handle of his blade. The three ninja tensed, "Halt! Desist reaching for blade or we will attack."

Aizen smirked and charged at the nearest ninja. The ninja, clearly a rookie, stumbled back but managed to throw a kunai by reflex. Aizen batted the weapon away but halted in surprise. The kunai had opened up a wound on the back of his hand. The paused allowed for all the ninja to recover from their surprise and charge. Two of the ninja charged at Aizen, clearly understand Naruto's deference to him as subordination.

The ninja that clearly planned to face the blond threw a multitude of shuriken at Naruto's back. The ninja's hands shifted through a series of seals and a blade of chakra wind followed the path of the shuriken. The ninja watched the effect of his attacks.

Nartuo spun almost immediately, blocking the shuriken with his still unsheathed blade. Seeing the actions of the enemy, the blond flashed through his own series of hand seals. Chakra coursing through his hands, Naruto caught the blade and forced the technique's chakra into the blade. With little time to spare, Naruto sliced his blade through the oncoming wind attack. The clashing air lapped at his clothes, but there was no harm done.

Upon seeing the ineffectiveness of his attack, the ninja pulled out a pair of kunai and charged. Naruto braced his blade and did not flee. Then the ninja was upon the blond. The large, crimson blade Naruto was wielding was ineffective against the two, small blades and the blond quickly found himself on the defensive. Shallow cuts, however, were all the enemy was able to land on Naruto.

But Naruto quickly tired of being on the defensive. With a growl, he swung his sword in a long, sweeping arc. As Naruto predicted, the ninja jumped back to avoid the blade. The blond took the short pause in battle to sheathe his long blade and pull two kunai from his belt. Naruto wasn't as good with kunai as he was with Kyuubi's blade, but the change in skill would be negated by the added maneuverability and speed.

Holding the kunai in a backwards grip, Naruto spread his feet and bent his knees in a ready stance, waiting for his enemy to renew his attack. But the ninja was gone. Startled by the disappearance, the blond frantically glanced around.

Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted across Naruto's back. He spun, slicing blindly out with a kunai. The enemy ninja grunted and jumped back, gripping a deep, but small cut on his arm. But the man was grinning, clearly feeling accomplished in badly injuring his opponent.

Naruto grinned with feral delight, the adrenaline from the fight affecting his mind like any taste of Kyuubi's chakra would. This was fun, this blade to blade with an unknown enemy, this reality of it, this non-training feeling of life and death. Still grinning widely, Naruto flipped the kunai and flicked them at the enemy. As the ninja dodged, the blond flipped through another series of hand seals and sucked in a deep breath, gathering chakra in his throat, mouth, and lungs. When the burning sensation reached an almost unbearable level, Naruto brought the tips of his fingers, formed in a seal, and breathed out the chakra and air at the enemy. A great fireball, three men tall and four men wide, roared out of the blonde's mouth.

With only a moment of surprised pause, the enemy jumped away. But, not only did the man get light burns on his right side, two kunai were suddenly lodged in his shoulder and leg. The ninja cried out in pain and retreated.

But Naruto wasn't going to allow that and charged. The blond was faster and quickly caught up to the fleeing ninja. With a roar of triumph, Naruto slammed into the enemy, digging claws into the man's arms. The man tried to scream as the blond teen's claws ripped into his throat, but the scream quickly turned to a desperate gurgle and then silence. The man was dead and Naruto was covered in the ninja's blood.

Naruto stood up, ripping his kunai from the dead body, still high on adrenalin and Kyuubi's chakra. The blond was grinning viciously down at his dead opponent, triumph pumping quickly through his veins.

"That was quite messy, Naruto." Aizen's voice startled the blond. He turned to stare at the brown-haired man, the adrenalin and delight being replaced by a sick unease.

Naruto nodded and turned his back on the ambitious man. Looking at the dead body of his kill, the horror of what he'd just done struck him. Feeling sickened but highly aware of the eyes of Aizen fixed solely on him, Naruto turned away. Anger surged to the forefront of his mind. Damn Kyuubi. Damn Aizen. Damn the King. Why did this crap always happened to him? Why did Kyuubi's chakra suddenly jump forth when he hadn't called on it?

Naruto resisted the urge to snarl.

"I wonder who these men were," Aizen mused aloud, staring with mild amusement at the mangled throat of Naruto's opponent.

Naruto took a deep breath and turned to stare at Aizen, "They're ninja from the village hidden in the sand. They were just defending their home and territory."

Aizen glanced critically at Naruto, "Hmm."

"We are probably near their village. We shouldn't stay for long." Naruto stated, voice tight and controlled.

Aizen didn't answer immediately, but his face showed a subtle hint of tiredness. The brown-haired man nodded slowly. "I agree. Let us return."

Turning away from Aizen and away from where he knew the man's fight had been, Naruto drew his sword. With one last deep breath, Naruto opened a portal back to Aizens throne room in Hueco Mundo. With a hand on Naruto's shoulder, Aizen followed his blond subordinate back to Hueco Mundo.

Scene Change

The King Shinigami leaned back in his chair, Naruto and Aizen safely back in Hueco Mundo from their trip to the Elemental Countries. His dark lips stretched languidly into a smirk. Things were progressing quite well indeed. Though, the sudden involuntary presence of Kyuubi's chakra was concerning. Shinigami frowned as he recognized the most likely cause.

"Sir!"

The King focused on the straight-backed guard on the other side of the throne room. The man had been in his service for quite a few centuries. He was strong and formal and, even though his service had hardly been voluntary, the man was wholly loyal. "Yes, Satou?"

Satou's broad shoulder's relaxed, recognizing the good mood his lord was in. The man bowed apologetically, "Kami is here to see you."

Speak of the devil. The King frowned and sighed. "Send him in."

"Hai!"

A moment later a tall man strutted through the great, wooden doors of the chamber. His hair was pure white, straight, and long. It curled softly at his knees and swayed with each haughty step. His skin was, in the complete opposite of his hair, pure, light absorbing black. His eyes were pure blue, except for the small black pinpoint of his pupils.

His clothes were mostly a white as pure as his hair. The shirt had long loose sleeves. The sleeve cuffs and folded collar were a blue the same shad of his eyes. The shirt extended to his mid-calves but was slit at the sides from the waist down. The man's pants were loose but not billowy and ended in a strip of blue. His feet were clad in white slippers.

This was the man humans had deigned Kami.

"Father," Kami greeted, confidently smirking.

Shinigami tilted his head forward, "Son."

Kami picked a pillar close to the throne to lean against, "So, I hear you've started yet another pet project." The subtle disdain was clear in Kami's voice.

Shinigami smirked, "Perhaps."

"Perhaps…" Kami snorted. "Perhaps you should focus on your job."

The King's eyes darkened with anger, "And perhaps you should mind your own affairs, King of Hell, instead of mine."

Kami sneered, "You should watch yourself, old man, or someone might pry your throne from your cold dead, fingers."

Shinigami grinned darkly, "And you fancy that person to be yourself, I'm sure." The grey-skinned King shook his head mockingly, "I give you life, and you are unhappy. I give you power, and you are unhappy. I give you a kingdom, and still, you are unhappy."

"You gave me Hell!" Kami snarled.

"And with how it turned out, it is more than your deserve," Shinigami stated coldly.

"Are you inferring that that human boy is more deserving?"

"He is of the line of my first human creations."

"So what?" Kami sneered. "I am your first sentient creation! Your first and only true son."

"And that makes you more deserving, boy?" The King asked scornfully.

"Yes!" Kami jumped from his pillar, stalking closer to his creator, his father.

"Jealousy leads nowhere, Son." Kami sneered then smirked. The man's shoulder's lost there tension and his eyes regained their confidence.

"The boy won't succeed, you know. He can't."

Shinigami stared harshly and his first creation, "I'm aware of the curse you placed on the line of my first human creation." Kami took a step back. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice your interference? That extraordinarily bad things happened to this line of humans? Really, the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was ineptly unsubtle. Even a stupid child can figure out that that wasn't a random occurrence." The King shook his head, splaying his messy white hair about his shoulders, "No, I already made an effort to negate your interference long, long ago in a clearly more subtle way than you."

"Che," Kami scoffed, clearly defiant of this idea. "Your day will come old man. I guarantee it."

Shinigami leaned back, crossing his hands in front of his mouth and staring coolly down at his son, "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

With that, Kami stalked out of the room, making his displeasure obvious.

Scene Change

Upon arriving at Hueco Mundo and being allowed to leave, Naruto set off at a brisk walk towards his room. Orihime would be there doing whatever she did when he was away and she was not allowed out. Without bothering to cover the noise of his arrival, despite how much the noise would or might startle his roommate, Naruto entered his room. He was surprised to see Ulquiorra there and Orihime rambling to the stoic man.

Naruto growled at the arrancar, the remnants of Kyuubi's chakra making it a far more feral sound that naturally possible for a human. Ulquiorra turned stoic green eyes to the blond. "Get out." The arrancar just stared blankly at the blond. "I said Get Out!" Naruto snarled.

Without so much as acknowledging the startled Orihime or the angry Naruto, Ulquiorra stepped out of the room. Naruto resisted the urge to snap his teeth at the man with no heart. The blond slammed the door shut the moment Ulquiorra was out of the room.

Naruto snarled but forced down the anger. He unclenched his fist. The blond was unsurprised to find his open palms bleeding out of four crescent gouges in the flesh. The presence of the wounds only renewed the rage trying to boil out of his skin.

"Orihime." Naruto waiting for the woman to acknowledge him. "I'm going to go blow off some steam. Stay here and don't let anyone into the room. Do you understand?"

"But—"

"Do you understand!" Naruto snarled, eyes flashing a bright, dangerous red.

"Yes!" Orihime squeaked, cringing away from the savage blond.

Chapter End.

AN: Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? Please review. They make me happy and inspire me to write more and more.

Anyway, I was thinking about drawing some of the characters as I see them (using paint). So if you have a desire to see any of my characters as I see them. Send me a request by either review or private message and I'll see what I can do.

Until next chapter, bye bye.


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